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 2.273
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 2.273:
啶溹ぞ啶むた啶多が啷嵿う啷嬥そ啶ㄠ啶むぐ啷囙ぃ啶距お啶� 啶溹ぞ啶むた啶� 啶い啷嵿ぐ 啶啶班く啷佮啷嵿く啶む 啷�
啶膏ぎ啷嵿が啶ㄠ啶оた啶膏う啷冟ざ啶距う啷嵿ぇ啶班啶ぞ啶む 啶む 啶椸啶｀ぎ啶ぐ啷� 啶掂た啶︵啶� 啷� 啷ㄠキ啷� 啷�j膩ti艣abdo'ntare峁嚹乸i j膩ti峁� yatra prayujyate |
sambandhisad峁浥浤乨dharm膩t ta峁� 驳补耻峁嘺mapare vidu岣� || 273 ||273. When a word expressive of the universal is applied to something in which the universal is absent but a similar attribute is present, that word is said to be used in a secondary sense.
Commentary
[According to this view, the word cow denotes the universal 鈥榗owness鈥� (gotva). It exists only in the cow. But when the word is applied to a 惫腻丑墨办补, it is not because there is gotva in him, but because he resembles the cow in being dull. Resemblance in some attribute is, therefore, the cause of the secondary application of the word.
As the 痴峁泃迟颈 puts it:鈥�tatra r奴岣峢asambandhasya prasiddhas膩hacaryasya dharm膩ntarasya dar艣an膩d atajj膩t墨ye峁 j膩ti艣abda岣� prayujyam膩no 驳补耻峁嘺 ityucyate.]
The author now speaks about 惫颈辫补谤测腻蝉补, misapprehension on the basis of the distinction between primary and secondary.