Śabdādvaitavāda: Bhartṛhari's Vision of Language and Reality

Abstract

The significance of Bhartṛhari's Śabdādvaitavāda as a profound investigation of the multifaceted relationship between śabda, artha, and reality, stands out as truly newsworthy and gives a noteworthy perspective on the investigation of language. This philosophical system upheld everyday thinking by announcing that language isn't simply an apparatus for correspondence however the actual premise of reality and cognizance. Bhartṛhari's address is engraved definitely as far as etymological inquiry and awesome request, in semantic hypothesis and otherworldliness. It draws matches with Advaita Vedanta, accentuating non-duality, yet contrasts by focusing language (śabda) as the centre of the real world. Bhartṛhari asserts that language creates the world, shaping our perceptions, thoughts, and experiences. He explores the intricate bond between words (pada) and objects (artha), demonstrating how words shape our understanding of reality. To explain the relation between the eternal śabdatattva and the produced word Bhartṛhari mentioned four levels of Language. Those are-Parā (transcendental stage), Paśyanti (beyond human comprehension), Madhyamā (mental language), Vaikharī or verbal (human language). The non-duality of śabda and artha brings up captivating philosophical issues. While they seem particular, Bhartṛhari battles that their division is a consequence of human insight and phonetic shows. He makes sense of this solidarity through the idea of the sphoṭa hypothesis, which sets that the pith of language is a resolute entire, uncovered through discourse. In this way, Bhartṛhari's way of thinking shown us a new dimension of thinking on the language. This paper centers around Bhartṛhari's inventive way to deal with accommodating the clear contrast among śabda and artha, demonstrating how he dissolves this distinction into a unified, non dualistic comprehension of language and reality.