‘Vakyasphota’ and ‘Dialogic Dispersion’: Interlinking Bhartrhari and Bakhtin

Abstract

Abstract

Bhartrhari and Bakhtin not only belong to two different philosophical traditions of language but they are also divided by a huge time gap of more than 1300 years. While Bakhtin’s philosophy has been termed as dialogism as it puts forth the significance of “both/and” in meaning construction and identity formation, Bhartrhari is seen as a monist and a universalist advocating sabda-tattva as the underlying principle for meaning construction. Bakhtin foregrounds dialogue as the basis of language and human existence and demonstrates how dialogic meaning is unfinalizable as it moves into the realm of the outer and the unknown. Whereas for Bhartrhari, meaning is obtained due to the interplay between vacaka and vacya, i.e., ‘whatever can be expressed in words and the words which express them’ (Iyer 1969: 147). Bakhtin stays away from metaphysics and explains the phenomenal world by identifying the various speech genres that are used in communication. On the contrary, Bhartrhari emphasizes the inextricable link between the phenomenal and the transcendental. Metaphysics and mysticism are very integral to Bhartrahri’s theoretical formulations.