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 3.14.598
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 3.14.598:
येषूपमेयवचनः शब्दोऽन्यो न प्रयुज्यते ।
उपमानस्य तत्रान्यैः संख्याया भेद इष्यते ॥ ५९८ ॥yeṣūpameyavacanaḥ śabdo'nyo na prayujyate |
upamānasya tatrānyaiḥ saṃkhyāyā bheda iṣyate || 598 ||598. Where another word expressive of the object of comparison is not used, then, according to some, the plurality of the standard of comparison is desired.
Commentary
[The other way is now explained. Where no word other than the one ending in lup and denoting the object of comparison, the image is used, there the standard of comparison Kāśyapa attains plurality, that is, there are many standards of comparison. If the word expressive of the object of comparison is used, the idea of plurality would be understood from that itself and one standard of comparison would serve all the objects of comparison. For example in Kāśyapa iva Devadatta-Yajñadatta-Viṣṇumitrā imā pratikṛtayaḥ = these images of Devadatta Yajñadatta and Viṣṇumitra are like Kāśyapa. But if the word expressive of the object of comparison is not used as when the mere word Kāśyapa is used, a doubt arises as to whether it is the standard of comparison of one image or of more than one. If it is the standard of comparison of more than one, then its singular number can be justified by P. 1.2.51. Therefore, in order to indicate, the plurality of the objects of comparison, the word Kāśyapa, having become the standard of comparison attains plurality, and we can say Kāśyapāḥ pratikṛtayaḥ.]