Cattle Field And Barley Note On Mahabhasya

Author(s): A Wezler
Publisher: A Wezler

Page 1

A. WEZLER
CATTLE, FIELD AND BARLEY: A NOTE ON MAHĀBHĀŞYA I 337. 24-27 (STUDIES IN PATANJALI'S MAHĀBHĀŞYA NII)
By a foot-note (on p. 652) Pdt. Sukhlal Sanghvi and Pdt. Bechardas Doshi-in the marvellous edition of Siddhasena Divākara's Sammatitarkaprakarana together with Abhayadevasūri's Tattvabodhavidhāyini 1 we owe to them-my attention was recently drawn to a passage of the Mahābhāsya (=Bh.) which seems to call for a closer study. It significance does not, however, lie in the field of grammar itself, but-as in quite a number of similar instances too2_in something which is only implied or simply presupposed by Patañjali when giving an example for the operation of a certain grammatical rule. As for the present case, it is in connection with the view; discussed in the Tattvabodhavidhāyini, that vanaspati-ne are cetana+ that the learned editors refer their readers to the Bh. (and a number of related texts) ;5 and the passage which they also quote, though only in part, is indeed likely to testify to the fact that Patañjali shared the view of the 'animateness of plants'; but this has to be