Abhidha

Author(s): Tapasvi Nandi, Jitendra B Shah
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

Page 48

[39]
dharma-pratipattiḥ na sadrśyam iti pūrvasmād asya višesaḥ. ubhayatra api ca tattvāropa eva hetuḥ. sa hi tat-sāmya-tat-sambandhādi-nibandhanatvād bahuvidha drstah-yad āhuh
"abhidheyena sambandhāt
sādrśyāt samavāyatah, vaiparītyāt kriyāyogād
laksanā pañcadhā matā” – iti. In the locana, we have, "abhidheyena samyogāt" and also, "sāmīpyāt" for 'sādrśyāt' of Mahimā.
In locana, we have 'abhidheyena samyogāt. The idea is that 'samyoga' or conjunction is a type of 'sambandha' i. e. relation in general. Abhinavagupta explains 'samyogāt' as 'bhramara-śabdena yasya samyogaḥ sambandhah'. Mahimā does not like this usage of a specific term to denote a general term. So, he goes for the reading 'samyogāt, retaining the term denoting a general relation. Similarly, in Locana we have 'sāmīpyāt', while Mahimā reads 'sadrśyāt'. Abhinavagupta has explained 'samavāya' as 'sambandha-mātra' i. e. any relation whatsoever. The relations such as 'sāmīpya' or proximity could be believed to be covered up by 'samavāya', so Mahimā opts for sādrśya. Actually, we can say that not only 'sāmīpya', but even 'sādrsya', 'vaiparītya' or any other relation could be contained in 'samavāya'. Because of this only, later naiyāyikas such as Gadādhara and the rest have taken only "abhidheyena sambandha", as definition of lakṣaṇā, which they choose to define as "sakya-sambandho laksanā”. The expression of special relations such as sādịśya, vaiparītya etc. is covered by 'sambandha' only, but they are mentioned only to make things clearer. This way, argues Prof. Rewaprasad, the reading of Locana as 'samyogāt, is more acceptable. The reading 'sādịśya' is not preferred to 'sāmīpya' by Locanakāra, because by using the term 'gauna', the explanation of laksanā based on similarity is already covered up by him. Virtually 'sambandha' being manifold, lakṣaṇā may not be taken as five-fold only.
Mahimabhatta also incorporates what is known as tātparya-sakti under abhidhā only. Some people hold that to convey the correlated meaning of