Speech and sound / Vākyapadīya / 1.166 Madhyamā
1.166
केवलं बुद्ध्युपादानक्रमरूपानुपातिनी ।
प्राणवृत्तिमतिक्रम्य मध्यमा वाक् प्रवर्तते kevalaṃ buddhyupādānakramarūpānupātinī |
prāṇavṛttim atikramya madhyamā vāk pravartate
The line
Having gone past the movement of breath, the middle speech proceeds, following only the sequence-form the intellect has taken up.
नेपालीमा
श्वासको गति नाघिसकेपछि बीचको वाणी बुद्धिले लिएको क्रमको रूपलाई मात्र पछ्याउँदै अघि बढ्छ।
Where it sits
1.165 left speech tied to breath and to phonemes in the air. This verse steps inside that. Sequence is still here. Breath, as the tie of vaikharī (वैखरी), has been gone past. 1.167 draws the sequence in.
Split: kevalam (केवलम्) + buddhi-upādāna-krama-rūpa-anupātinī (बुद्धि-उपादान-क्रम-रूप-अनुपातिनी) + prāṇa-vṛttim (प्राण-वृत्तिम्) + atikramya (अतिक्रम्य) + madhyamā (मध्यमा) + vāk (वाक्) + pravartate (प्रवर्तते)
Sanskrit, in depth
The words
| Word | Grammar | Sense |
|---|---|---|
| kevalam (केवलम्) | indeclinable | Only. It limits what she follows. |
| buddhi-upādāna-krama-rūpa-anupātinī (बुद्धि-उपादान-क्रम-रूप-अनुपातिनी) | nominative singular, feminine | She follows the sequence-form that the intellect has taken up. buddhi (बुद्धि), intellect. upādāna (उपादान), the taking up. krama (क्रम), sequence. rūpa (रूप), form. anupātin (अनुपातिन्), one who follows. Agrees with vāk (वाक्). |
| prāṇa-vṛttim (प्राण-वृत्तिम्) | accusative singular, feminine | The movement of breath. Object of atikramya (अतिक्रम्य). The same prāṇa-vṛtti (प्राण-वृत्ति) that 1.165 tied to vaikharī (वैखरी). |
| atikramya (अतिक्रम्य) | absolutive | Having gone past. From ati (अति) and the root kram (क्रम्). |
| madhyamā (मध्यमा) | nominative singular, feminine | The middle speech. |
| vāk (वाक्) | nominative singular, feminine | Speech. |
| pravartate (प्रवर्तते) | present, third person singular, ātmanepada (आत्मनेपद) | Proceeds, gets under way. From pra (प्र) and the root vṛt (वृत्). |
The phrases
The absolutive is earlier in time than the main verb. She has gone past the movement of breath, and then she proceeds.
What she follows is inside, a sequence taken up by the intellect. Kevalam (केवलम्) says that is the whole of what she follows.
Sanskrit in this line
The long nominative is one compound. A printed line sometimes puts a hyphen after buddhyupādāna (बुद्ध्युपादान) where the verse breaks on the page. That hyphen is the printer's break. The compound is one word, and the split above puts the joints back for teaching.
Buddhi (बुद्धि) plus upādāna (उपादान) is heard buddhyupādāna (बुद्ध्युपादान). i (इ) before u (उ) becomes y (य्).
Say it back
Say the difference from vaikharī (वैखरी) in one breath: past prāṇa (प्राण), sequence still there, and the sequence belongs to buddhi (बुद्धि).