Indological Studies

Author(s): H C Bhayani
Publisher: Parshva Prakashan

Page 15

Paryāyabandha and Samghāta
Sk. paryāya > Pk. pajjāa; pajjā> Pk. vajja Pk. pajjā > Sk. paryā, padyā Pk. vajjā > Sk. vrajyā
We may note in passing that the strange developments undergone by the term paryāya tind a striking parallel in what happened to the term designating the divisons of the Paiśāci Bịhat katha.? From original lambha (meaning ‘aquisition, attainment'), it became lambhaka through pleonastic extension. Due to ignorance or phonological change these were turned into lamba and lambaka, were adopted in Sanskrit and were reinterpreted or else they were replaced by the acceptable Sanskrit synonym läbha. Thus misunderstanding of a Prakrit term, Sanskritization and reinterpretation arø the common features in the history of the terms lambha and paryāya.
The appropriateness of the designation Paryāyabandha is quite obvious. It is a composition in which the same topic is described in its various aspects (paryāya); or variations (paryāya) are worked out on the same theme. The aptness of the term paryāya is in glaring contrast with the forced and artificial interpretation of the manufactured term wajyā.
The identification of the Paryāyabandha with the Vrajyā readily solves a mystery : How was it that even though authorities like Anandavardhana and Abhinavagupta thought it worth while to take note of the type Paryāyabandha, so far we had not been able to identify even a single actual work of that type ? It now becomes clear that in the Vrajyās or Vajjās of the Subhāşita anthologies we have as many examples of the Paryāyabandha as we would wish to have. Hemacandra has stated this clearly : Paryās are seen in abundance in the Kośas. This is echoed by Viśvanātha in the definition we cited previously. The same characteristic of the Paryāyabandha which is specified by Abhinavagupta with the expression ekavarnaniyoddeśya is expressed by others with different wordings, e. g. eka-praghattakopanibandha (Hemacandra, Alankāracūļāmaņi on Kāvyānuśāsana, VIII 12),8 sajātiyānāmekatra sanniveśah (Visvanātha).