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INDIAN LOGIC
on grammar itself - have been found committing grammatical mistakes. The third important objection - but one that is relatively less important - is to the effect that there are so many popular languages with which the grammar of Sanskrit has nothing to do. This objection occurs in the context of arguing that it is difficult to follow the injunction 'One ought to use correct words, not incorrect ones' because it is difficult to define a correct word; the definition accepted as most sensible is that a correct word is a word that conveys a meaning, and then it is submitted that this definition also applies to the words of popular non-Sanskrit languages. In this connection rejected as merely technical the definition that a correct word is a word that is in conformity to grammatical rules. This whole argumentation Jayanta criticises in details, and here two central points made by him are as follows:
(1) The so many popular languages are but a corrupt form of cultured Sanskrit. Thus cultured Sanskrit has retained its purity because generations of students have taken care to preserve this purity;s on the other hand, so many popular languages have conte into existence because people at large have not taken care to preserve the purity of the language they speak.' Certainly, the words of these popular languages, just like the words of non-Aryan languages, have no fixed convention as to their meaning, a convention available only in the case of cultured Sanskrit either in virtue of God having established this convention at the time of world-creation as the Naiyāyikas maintain or in virtue of a natural capacity of these words as the Mimāṁsakas maintain."
(2) As for what are and what are not correct words, an ascertainment to that effect is doubtless not possible on the part of a plain person plainly observing the words under use, but such ascertainment becomes well possible for one who has made a proper study of the science of grammar, just as one who has properly studied Vedas can well ascertain as to what is and what is not a religious duty."
The rest of the objections raised by the opponent and answered by Jayanta are even more flimsy and in any case are not relevant for the latter's main enquiry.
