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PERCEPTION ACCORDING TO VYĀKARANA SĀSTRA
V. D. Hegde
Language is a human activity. Through this activity one makes himself understood by another. Another tries to understand what is in the mind of the speaker. These two individuals, the producer and the recipient of the language should never be lost sight of. The speaker produces sounds and the licarer perceives them. The spoken and heard word is the primary form of language.
A word has got two forins. One is the audible form, the other is the visual form. Writing is only a substitute for hearing. A written word is mummified until some one imparts life to it by transporting it mentally into the corresponding spoken wordt,
We think in the form of sentences and also speak in the form of sentences. According to Vyakaiana Sastra a sentence is complete in itself. It possesses an individuality of its own. Punyarāja likens it to a delicious drink in which different ingredients merge their individual tastes to give rise to il peculiar Navour. Or, it rescinbles the liquid in a peahen's weg where different colours mingle to produce a variegated buc. 2 A sentence is a class by itself like the man-lion which, though resembling partly il man and partly a lion, is neither a man nor a lion but something definitely different from either of the two. Both the Padavin and the Vükyavidin (the grammarian) have examined the nature of a sentence. The Padavādin believes in the reality of terms and looks upon a sentence as a combination of several terms. According to his interpretation, il term is the ultimate entity and a sentence cannot be considered as an indivisible unit of thought and expression, 3 On the other hand, the Vakyavadin (the grammarian) emphasises the indivisibi. lity of a sentence and strongly refutes the Padayādin's claim.4. The splitting up of a sentence into a number of terms is only a means that helps the beginner in the study of a sentence.5
Definition of Sabda';
This question has been raised as well as taken up for discussion by
Sambodhi XII-18
