The Concept of Pratibhā and its Implications: Gleanings from Vākyapadīya

The concept of Sentence and Sentence-meaning is discussed in manifold ways by the preceptors of different Indian Schools of thought. Almost all of them have given primacy to the process of understanding the sentence-meaning, which is known as ‘śābdabodha'. Bhartṛhari tries to converge different ideas on the concept of sentence-meaning into six views. In his Vākyapadīya, he introduces the theory of Pratibhā, which states that the sentence conveys its meaning in a flash. Bhartṛhari expounds on the important characteristics of Pratibhā in several verses. This article tries to unravel the psychological as well as the philosophical outlook of Pratibhā