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AKLUJKAR : The Concluding Verses of Bhartrhari's Vākya-Kānda
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respect to his work; if undertaken, it would lead to the destruction or waste (praņāśa ) of the reader's good karman (sukrta) and life (āyus). Now, this activity cannot certainly be the making of a defensive armour' or protective covering; there is no reason why the possibility of anyone's attempting to provide more protection (in a literal sense or in the figurative sense of justification, bolstering with arguments, etc.) to Aryabhata's work should disturb Aryabhata to the extent of uttering an imprecation. Realising this, Thieme proposes that we should read apratikañcukam, i. e. supply an avagraha after kurute, in the Aryabhațiya verse, take apratikañcukam as an adverb, and translate the line as follows: “He causes perdition of his good deeds and his life so that there can be no defense (counter-armour), who ( causes perdition ) of this ( work, the Āryabhatiya ).” However, such a translation is possible only if we repeat the phrase praņāśaṁ kurute as yah asya ( āryabhațiyasya ) praņāśam kurute [ saḥ) sukrtāyuşoh apratikañcukam praņāśam kurute. It does not seem likely from the placing of praņāśam and pratikañcukaṁ / apratikañcukam in the verse line that Āryabhata had in mind the connection of praņāśam with yaḥ asya and of pratikañcukam / apratikañcukam with praņāśam kurute. Secondly, although a statement like 'He causes perdition of his good deeds, so that there can be no defense' is sensible, a statement like 'He causes perdition of his life, so that there can be no defense' is hardly sensible; when life is gone, there is no need for defense.
5.4 Recently I have come across an occurrence of pratikañcuka tḥat seems to have eluded all those who previousiy discussed the problem of 484d. It is in the Tantra-vārttika (on 1. 3. 7, p. 122 of the Anandāśrama edition of 1970) of Kumārila : pratikañcuka-rūpeņa pūrva-śāstrārtha-gocaram/ yad anyat kriyate tasya dharmam praty apramāṇatā || tathā ca prāyaścittādidāna-kāle yo vāk yam ātmiyam anya-kavikrtam vā ślokam voccārya mānavādiprāyaścittam dadyān na kaścid [? kañcid] api dharmarthaṁ pratipadyeta. This passage, especially in the gloss it contains, serves to establish that pratikañcuka cannot mean what Thieme thinks it means. What is more important is that, of all the relevant passages known so far, it provides the clearest indication as to what pratikañcuka must mean. Kumārila's point is as follows: If one were to replace the scriptural sentences employed in religious activities with newly composed sentences of similar import, one would not acquire dharma by performing those activities; it is the scriptural sentences that are a valid means of dharma, not their recasts. Thus, the Tantra-vārttika passage leaves no doubt that pratikañcuka stands, in the context of literature, for incorporating contents, expressing the same matter in another composition'. It can be easily seen that this meaning fits the other two contexts in which the word occurs. What Aryabhata is really con
