The paper deals with the problem of semantic relation in the Sam?bandha-samuddesa of the Vakyapadiya, the work of the Indian grammarian and philosopher Bhartrh? ari (V AD). Bhartrh? ari's views on semantic relation are compared with the ideas of the Buddhist logician Dharmakirti (VII AD) expressed in the Samb? andha-pariksa? . The arguments of Bhartrh? ari and Dharmakirti have much in common, but due to the general difference in their philosophical strategies, they arrived at different conclusions on the nature of semantic relation. Dharmakirti confined with critique of language as a source of dualist world-view, whereas Bhartrh? ari criticized the ontological status of semantic relation, but justified its existence on the functional level.