Two Literary Conventions Of Classical India

SR No.: 269609
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Johannes Bronkhorst
Publisher: Johannes Bronkhorst
Total Pages: 18
Language: English
Classification: Article
File Size: 2 MB

Page 15

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JOHANNES BRONKHORST
discuss [this] later' is used in the Bhāsya on 1.10 (p. 7 1. 10) to refer to verse 1.12; vyākhyāsyāmah at p. 89 1. 4 (on 2.54) refers to verse 5.12; the same term at p. 274 1. 24 (on 4.125) refers to verse 6.17; vaksyāmah at p. 353 l. 12 introduces verses 6.29 f. After what we have learned from the Yoga Bhāsya and Tattvārthādhigama Bhāsya we will not be tempted to derive conclusions from this usage, the more not because the references may be to the Bhāsya which explains those verses.
But nor can we draw conclusions from the references in the third person. On a number of occasions the Bhāsya uses vaksyati 'he'll say' in order to refer to a verse. For example, the one but last sentence of the first chapter of the Bhāsya (p. 37 1. 14-15) states: "He will explain later (paścăd vaksyati) that the female and male (sexual] organ's are part of the dhātu (called) 'body'.” This refers to verse 2.2 which explains (at least in the interpretation of the Bhāsya) that there are six organs (indriya), and that the female and male sexual organs are merely distinguished from the body, but not different from it, because of their supremacy regarding femininity and masculinity:31 The Bhāsya on the first part of Abhidh-k 2.33 indicates with the help of vaksyati that the last word of the verse (cetasah) is to be understood here too (p. 60 1. 25). The Bhāsya on Abhidh-k 2.67 uses the same device to show that anantaram is here valid from verse 68 (p. 103 1. 20). The use of vaksyati on Abhidh-k 3.17 (p. 128 1. 28) serves a similar purpose. References to the Bhāsya, on the other hand, use the first person: vaksyāmah (p. 107 1. 3 and 17, on 2.72) and pravaksyāmah (p. 400 1. 15, on 7.13) introduce immediately following portions of the Bhāsya; cintayisyāmah (p. 93 1. 16-17, on 2.55) refers to the Bhāsya on 5.27; paścād vaksyāmah (p. 343 1. 19) refers to the Bhāsya on 7.13 (p. 400). All these cases do not allow us to draw any conclusions, because cases are known where an author uses the third person to refer to his own verses. An example is Mandana Miśra, who - in the Brahmasiddhi, which consists of verses and commentary, both by the same author - uses on several occasions the third person in the commentary part to refer to his verses. 32
31 Abhidh-k 2.2: svārthopalabdhyādhipatyāt sarvasya ca sadindriyam/ strītvapuṁstvādhipatyāt
tu kāyāt strīpurusendriye // The Bhāsya explains (p. 39 1. 14-15): kāyendriyâd eva strīpurusendriye prthak vyavasthāpyete/ nārthāntarabhūte/ kaścid asau kāyendriyabhāga
upasthapradeśo yah strīpurusendriyākhyām pratilabhate/ 32 E.g., p. 75 1. 4: darśayati; p. 23 1. 17: āha.