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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.

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 1.124:

वाग्रूपत� चेदुत्क्रामेदवबोधस्य शाश्वती �
� प्रकाश� प्रकाशेत सा हि प्रत्यवमर्शिनी � १२� �

岵ū貹 cedutkrāmedavabodhasya śāśvatī |
na prakāśa� prakāśeta sā hi pratyavamarśinī || 124 ||

124. If this eternal identity of knowledge and the word were to disappear, knowledge would cease to be knowledge; it is this identity which makes identification possible.

Commentary

Just as illumination is the nature of fire or consciousness the nature of the Inner Controller, in the same way, all knowledge is intertwined with the word. Even in the state of unconsciousness (sleep), there is the persistence of the association with the subtle word. Also, that first cognition of external objects which does not grasp their special features (Ծٳ峾) illuminates them in a vague manner (avyapadeśyayā vṛttyā) as mere things, by referring to them as this or that. At the time of remembrance also, when the seeds of such indeterminate cognition are awakened, a mere outline, consisting of the previous vague cognition, figures in the mind in the form: ‘this is some hymn or verse which I have heard before�. If knowledge were not mixed up with the word, the (vague) cognition which arises, not being intertwined with the form of another (the word) does not become an auxiliary in the act of illumination. After the cognition of the bare meaning of the words (in a sentence) which are different from one another, mutually unhelpful and independent of one another (ٳԳٲٳ峾) has taken place, what takes place afterwards, namely, the mutual determination of their meanings, the definite identification of their meanings as such and such, their cooperation to fulfil one purpose, the connection of the individual sentence-meaning with the expressive power of the words, all this is closely linked with the fact of knowledge being closely intertwined with the word. It is this (岵ū貹) which brings about the identification and the mutual determination of the wordmeanings, a cognition (of the sentence) which is qualified by all the qualifications and causes purposeful activity and yet it does not abandon the appearance of difference within it by a process of abstraction of powers.2

Notes

1. ĀٳԳٲٳ峾. ṛṣ’s text seems to have been: �ٳԳٲٳ峾� because he explains as follows�ٳntaram eṣām ٳ na bhavati. Itaretarasya iti. Itarasyetara ٳ na bhavati. Itarasyāpītāro devadattārtho gavārthasyātmetyādi.

2. From �󾱲ԲԲūṇām to na vijahāti, it is explained that the understanding of the sentence-meaning from the word-meaning presupposes that knowledge is of the nature of the word. The stages in the process, as understood by ṛṣ, are: (1) the understanding of the word-meanings from the words; (2) the identification of the meanings in a cognition intertwined with the word; (3) the unification of these meanings by their mutual delimitation.

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