Bhartri Hari and The Theory of Sphota

Bhartri hari and the Theory of Sphota
Developing the thought of Patan jal i, Bhartriha ri goes fart her and mak es
an ov erall survey of what is “single entity” and how it works on all l evels
of speech. For Bha rtrihari a sent ence an d not a separate word is a singl e
undi vided speech-uni t. The whole world as i t is has a Meaning which can
be grasp ed only as an indivisibl e unity. This meaning i s inherent in th e
consciousness of man from his very birth, with which he la ter finds its
partial correspondence in his l angua ge 1 and reproduces it through
arti culati on, and tha t is Sphoṭa.
Sphoṭa, literal ly means “sudden opening” , “discl osure”, it is taking place

in both sp eaker a nd hearer, through th e proces s of a rticulation i n both.
The sound of th e speech (dhvani) simply evokes th e S phoṭa i n th e
hearer, as varṇa -sphoṭa, p ada-sph oṭa and vākya-sphoṭa, the
phon eme/morpheme-articul ation-cognition, the word-articul ation-
cognition and the text-articulation-cognition, resp ect ively. The
di fferentiation between sound and articulation is on e of t he fundamental
features of the th eo ry of Sphoṭa. Sphot a is not a sound we hea r but t he
sound we articulate. 2 According to Bhartrihari Sphoṭa operates withi n
univers al sounds whereas dhvani within a particular sound. Th e
opposi tion between sphoṭa a nd dhva ni is also presented a s the opposition
of cl ass to individual. In modern terms Sphoṭ a can be understood as
having const ant distinctive phonetic features, wh ereas dh avi is of a
phonic natu re. Sp ho ṭa is that whi ch is to be manifested (vy aṅgya-), and
the dhv ani is manifesti ng (vyañ jak a-). Sphoṭa is not uttered but it is
perceived by the hea rer.
To make the distincti on clearer Bhartri hari introduces t wo types of

dhvani : prāk ṛta-dhva ni , natu ral sou nd, and vaikṛta-dhvani, u ttered out or
di storted sound; wh ere sph oṭa i s revealed through th e former o ne o nly.
The s econda ry vaikṛta sou nds are only to i ndi cate the primary on es, and
thus to kindle up th e Sphoṭ a, which with a h elp of pratibhā, the flash of
insi ght, reveal s the meani ng of the t ext.
On semantic level, as it was d evel oped by l atter grammarians, Sphoṭa
makes the text correspond with a universal Text-Totali ty, šabda-
brahman, and t heref ore t he text can be easil y understood a s such. And
once the inner perception (pratibhā) of the h ea rer flashes out, reflecting
something from th at totality, the Sphoṭa, the revelati on of t he meaning
of the text, takes pla ce in his consciousness.
1
Therefore a foreign language can be studied, for any language is only a particular access to the
Reality, which is wider than any language.
2
It is Saussure’s definition of ‘signifier’.
So, the Sphoṭ a can be seen as a communication-device based on
recogni tion of the truth of existence th rough a word/text in the hearer-
speak er, (satt ā). It therefore is of a psychological nature, as any human
speec h is, for the recognition of the meaning of the text is perceived by
a consciousness whi ch lies beyond the analyti c capacity of the external
mind, and carries in itself all meanings; and as such, its proper
underst anding requires a psychological experience.
Even today t hi s theory is widely recognized among modern linguists as
the most compl ete i nvestigation into the profundities of language,
making a considerable contribution to the P hilosophy of Language, th e
Psychology of Speec h, and especi ally Semioti cs.
General overview of all major theories of Sphota:
The general overview of the concepts and different appro aches to Sp hot a
must be made here in order to show the richness and th e precision of the
topics bei ng discussed among a ncient and medieval gra mmarians i n
India. There are eight major app roach es to the t heory of Sph ota:
1) varṇa-sphoṭ a
2) pada-sphoṭ a
3) vākya-sphoṭ a
4) akhaṇḍa-pad a-sphoṭ a
5) akhaṇḍa-vākya-spho ṭa
6) varṇa-jāti -sphoṭa
7) pada-jāti -sphoṭa
8) vākya-jāti-sphoṭa
Here we wi ll briefly outline some of thei r cent ral concept s and issu es,
especially related to the studies of meani ng:
1) Varna sphota is defined as denot ative, vācaka, when a single phonem e

or a st em or affix is found to be so, and therefore the v arna-sphot a is
taking place. This t heory util izes the analysi s from “bottom-to-top’, which
is mainly found in grammatical treatises s uch as Panini’s descriptive
grammar.
Varna sphot a h as its difficulties in the immediate applicati on to t he
anal ysis of the word, especi all y when th e synthetic forms of the word are
exami ned such as ghaṭena, ‘with the pot’, for it cannot clearly define
them into sepa rat e and meaningful units. 3
3
Where the stem ends and suffix begins in this word? Is it ena, or ina, or na? And still it is none
of them. So what is then this na- or ina-? It is a clear example of how the grammatical analysis is
incapable to find out the meaning of grammatical units. It breaks down the oneness of the
system of etymons into bits and pieces, demanding from every bit to be meaningful in itself
without referring to its system of meaning.
2) Pada sphota mainta ins that th e finished word as a uniqu e enti ty
conveys t he meaning, and t he divi sion i nto the morphological components
into suffixes, stems etc. does not occur when t he speaker or the listener
underst ands t he speech. This theory claims that the text can b e
described by listening to the words an d thei r mea ning, as well as by
perceiving the rel ation between them in a syntactic structure of th e
sent ence. It is by listening to t he mean ing of every word and linking it
with another word that the mea ning of the sentence can be understood.
But si nce th e meanin g of the s ent ence is the final mea ning which is to be
understood t hen the pada-sp hota t heo ry is found insuffi ci ent i n the
description of perception of meaning and leads to the next l evel of
synthesis: vākyasp hoṭa.
3) Vākya-sphoṭa mai ntains that th e sent ence is a unique entity which

conveys the meaning. The sentence in itself is a unit of meaning. Vakya
sphota however does not claim that the constituents of the sent ence do
not have meaning. The main point of thi s theory is that th e word shoul d
be always seen a nd understood in a context. The words have their
meaning only when t hey form a part of sent ence.
4) Akhaṇḍa-pada-sphoṭa maintains that the word is perceived as

undi vided single meani ng b ea ri ng u nit. It is not p erceived by its part s:
suffixes, stems etc., but as a single and u ndivided meaningful entity.
5) Akhaṇḍa-vākya-sphoṭa says t hat it is insufficient to perceive the

separate word, for in ordinary communications the sent ence as the whol e
is percei ved as meaningful and not a s eparate word. Bh art rihari thinks
that such divi si on of the sent ence into words and stems et c., does not
exist in the ordinary perception of speech. In common use of speech th e
meaning is taken as a whole, including the cont ext. It is only when the
utterance is made that the speaker ca n dwell on it and analyze it in parts
as words, stems etc., but not when h e is speaki ng. And if he is able to
grasp t he pa rts of speech, such as syll ables, he will l oose the meaning of
it all. According to this theory the varna and pad a sph ota describe
language i n its functi ons, but not in its u se.
6) Vyakti sphoṭa and Jāti sphoṭa

To answer the questi on whether Sphoṭa is parti cular or universal there
are two th eories t he Vyakti-sphoṭa-vāda a nd Jāti sphoṭ a-vāda.
The Jāti sphoṭ a-vāda maintains th at non-di fference in the varied
individual elements is generic, while vyakti -sphoṭa-vāda says th at
di fferenc e is associative. For the Jāti sphoṭa-vāda the meaning-bearing
word i s the class (as for instance: ‘gotva’, ‘cowness’ ) whi ch i s revealed
by the indivi dual instances (vy aktis). The individuals are not mea ning
bearers. 4
There was o ne more di stincti on important to menti on here, which
formulated the two di fferent approaches to th e understa nding of Sphot a:
the ab hi hitānvayavāda and anvitābhi dhānavāda theories.
The abhi hitānvayavāda theory maintains that the words and grammati cal
units have their o wn meani ng and by joini ng toget her through t heir
syntactic relation build up the mea ni ng of the sentenc e.
The anvitāb hidhānavāda th eory on the contrary affirms that the meaning
of the word can be understood only in the context of th e s ent ence.
Al l these t heories of Sphota with many other variations and commentaries

make a rich layout for the l inguistic studies of meani ng in the terms of
structural semanti cs, and together represent a holistic view in defi ning all
possible appro aches to mea ni ng withi n the grammatical structures
(morphology and sy ntax).
4
Against this Nāgeša says that individual member is the meaning conveyor which is revealed by
the individual sounds associated with diverse features.

Bhartri Hari and The Theory of Sphota

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Bhartri Hari and The Theory of Sphota

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Bhartri Hari and The Theory of Sphota

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Bhartri hari and the Theory of Sphota

Sphoṭa, literal ly means “sudden opening” , “discl osure”, it is taking place

To make the distincti on clearer Bhartri hari introduces t wo types of

General overview of all major theories of Sphota:

1) Varna sphota is defined as denot ative, vācaka, when a single phonem e

3) Vākya-sphoṭa mai ntains that th e sent ence is a unique entity which

4) Akhaṇḍa-pada-sphoṭa maintains that the word is perceived as

5) Akhaṇḍa-vākya-sphoṭa says t hat it is insufficient to perceive the

6) Vyakti sphoṭa and Jāti sphoṭa

Al l these t heories of Sphota with many other variations and commentaries

You might also like