Vakyapadiya of Bhartrihari
by K. A. Subramania Iyer | 1965 | 391,768 words
The English translation of the Vakyapadiya by Bhartrihari including commentary extracts and notes. The Vakyapadiya is an ancient Sanskrit text dealing with the philosophy of language. Bhartrhari authored this book in three parts and propounds his theory of Sphotavada (sphota-vada) which understands language as consisting of bursts of sounds conveyi...
This book contains Sanskrit text which you should never take for granted as transcription mistakes are always possible. Always confer with the final source and/or manuscript.
Verse 3.14.499
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 3.14.499:
समुच्चयो विकल्पो वा प्रकाराः सर्व एव वा ।
विशेषा इति वर्ण्यन्ते सामान्यं वाऽविकल्पितम् ॥ ४९९ ॥samuccayo vikalpo vā prakārāḥ sarva eva vā |
viśeṣā iti varṇyante sāmānyaṃ vā'vikalpitam || 499 ||499. Whether it be accumulation, or alternation or all the parts taken together, they are said to be particulars and so is the undifferentiated generic feature.
Commentary
[Whether all the parts arc expressed one after another to be added up or in turn as alternatives, words are expressive of the particular. The different parts may be on the same level or they may be alternatives or they may be related as primary and secondary. These are the three possibilities. In all of them, some parts arc excluded and so in all of them, the word stands lor the particular. Even the very general, when presented as the main thing, is as good as the particular, as it excludes the particulars. This is what the M. Bhā. means by saying: sāmānyam api yathā viśeṣas tadvat = ‘even the general is as good as the particular’ (M. Bhā. I, p. 422, 1.5.)]
As it is through action or quality that something becomes the standard of comparison, what happens when the word is expressive of the combination?