Studies On Bhartrhari 5 Bhartrhari And Vaisesika

SR No.: 269426
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Johannes Bronkhorst
Publisher: Johannes Bronkhorst
Total Pages: 20
Language: English
Classification: Article
File Size: 2 MB

Page 3

BHARTRHARI AND VAIŚESIKA
77
sūtra reads: "Because there cannot be, in one non-omnipresent substance, (several] specific qualities (višesaguna) that are perceived by the same sense-organ." It is not impossible that this sütra was indeed meant to justify variegated colour as a quality. Unfortunately it is only known through this passage of the Vyomavafi; it does not occur in the different versions of the Vaiśesika Sütra that have been preserved, nor does it appear to be cited by any other commentator.
For the most certain attestation of the variegated colour in early Vaiśesika we have to turn to the following verses of Bhartrhari's Vākyapadiya:
Just as the single variegated colour is described by way of different (colours) such as blue etc., which point to divisions in the one and indivisible variegated colour); in the same way the single sentence, which is completely self-sufficient, is described by way of other linguistic units (viz. words) which require one another.
It is not necessary to recall here that for Bhartrhari the sentence is the real unit of language, the individual words being the result of an artificial analysis. The comparison with the variegated colour is therefore particularly appropriate, for that colour too cannot be looked upon as a collection of constituent colours. The comparison further reminds us of the fact that Bhartrhari's observations on the sentence as an indivisible unit are of an ontological rather than linguistic or psychological nature.
2. Sound (1)
Sound (sabda), in classical Vaiśesika, is a quality of ether (ākāśa). It is already described as such in the Padārthadharmasangraha of Praśastapāda, in Candramati's *Daśapadārthī, and in some of the Vaišesika sūtras. The Padārthadharmasargraha gives the following description:
fabdo 'mbaragunah frotragrāhyah ksanikah.../sa dvividho varalaksano dhvani- (v.l. 'varna-) laksanas ca/ tatra akārādir varalaksanah Sarikhădinimitto dhvanilaksanas
3
Vy vol. 1, p. 63 1. 20: avibhuni drave samānendriyagrāhyānām visesagunānām asambhavār. VP 2.8-9: citrasyaikasya rūpasya yathābhedanidaršanaih/nīlādibhih samākhyānar kriyate bhinnalaksanaih// tathaivaikasya vākyasya ninäkāriksasya sarvatah/ Sabdāntaraih samākhyānam sākāriksair anugamyate // I thank W. Halbfass for some useful observations. Np. 287-88, ki p. 262, Vy vol. 2 p. 237.
5 6