LITERARY SPHERE

IMAGE SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA Bhartrhari: On Syntax and Meaning (from Vakyapadiya) Based on the excerpt in G. N. Devy (Ed.), Indian Literary Criticism: Theory and Interpretation (pp. 20-25). Introduction to Bhartrhari and His Ideas Bhartrhari, a prominent Indian philosopher of language from around the 5th century CE, presented a sophisticated and holistic understanding of how language functions, particularly concerning the relationship between sentence structure ( syntax ) and meaning. His seminal work, the Vakyapadiya , delves into the nature of language as an indivisible entity that manifests meaning through structured expression. The excerpt discussed here emphasizes his view that the sentence is the primary unit of meaning, and understanding arises from a holistic grasp rather than a mere aggregation of individual word meanings. The Primacy of the Sentence (Vakya) For Bhartrhari,...