Published Online:December 2024
Product Name:The IUP Journal of English Studies
Product Type:Article
Product Code:IJES201224
Author Name:Prabha Shankar Dwivedi
Availability:YES
Subject/Domain:Arts and Humanities
Download Format:PDF
Pages:250- 264
In the Brahmakānda of the Vākyapadīya, Bhartṛhari accords the highest status to śabda seeing it comparable to Brahman. But when it comes to talking about the meaning and the role of śabda in communication, he considers a sentence to be nitya (consistent) and its constitutive unit śabda or pada as ‘anitya’ (noneternal). The paper examines this seemingly paradoxical relation between śabda and vākya in Bhartṛhari’s views. Further, there have been varying opinions on the status of a vākya in the Indian grammatical tradition. However, the most influential among these have been Bhartṛhari’s postulation that sees a vākya, independent of its constituents, and presents it as a self-contained and self-sufficient indivisible linguistic unit. In his treatise, Vākyapadīya, he makes cross-references to the opinions of other grammarians, and refuting them, he finally approves of a comprehensive theory of akhaṇḍavākyasphota. He sees a sentence as the most basic/or primary linguistic unit, while preceding grammarians and philosophers had entirely opposite views. This paper primarily intends to deal with these crucial aspects of language study focused on vākya and its purported indivisible nature. This paper seeks to represent a comprehensive understanding of sentence as enshrined in Bhartṛhari’s Vākyapadīya, juxtaposing it with his views on śabda.
Bhart?hari commences his treatise Vakyapadiya , bestowing the sabdatatva a status of Brahman due to its intrinsic nature1, and the whole of the first kanda /book is dedicated to the discussion of sabda .