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Nalini Balbir
Vibhāsā occurs as a member of a fivefold chain of terms centered around the idea of exposition (Pk. aṇuyoga) in an āryā-stanza common to the Avaśyakaniryukti (131) and the Bșhatkalpabhāşya (187):
aņuyogo ya niyogo bhāsă vibhāsā ya vattiyam c'eva: anuogassa u ee nämā eg'atthiyā panca. Disquisition in sequences, combined disquisition, exposition, detailed exposition and exhaustive exposition: these are the five equivalent designations of anuyoga.
As is often the case with lists of 'synonyms' (eg'arthiya, Sk. ekārthika), or rather words belonging to a given semantic field, the semantic connection is strengthened by morphological or phonetic appariations. In the present case, the formal basis of distribution (-yoga-/-bhāsā-), along with the place of the cesura (after niyogo), results in the formation of two distinct groups of two and three terms respectively, the fact that the last one is formally different from all the others not being an abnormal feature in such types of arrangements.
Thus, vibhāsā will not be explained individually but only in comparison with bhāsā and vattiya with which it is contrasted. The amount of explanation and the way of presenting the material vary according to the exegetical layers one considers. The situation can be summarized in a tabular form:
Defs. of the 3 terms
Development of ills.
AvN
ĀVC ViśAvBh ĀVTH=M. BkB
p. 115.5-6 v. 1418-1420 p. 87a = 130a (Sk.) v. 196-200 (+ Sk. T)
List of ills. v. 135 p. 115.7-116.14 1423 = AVN 135 AVN 135 v. 189
1424-1430 p. 96ab = 138ab (Sk.) v. 196-200 (+ Sk. ?)
Since the Av.-niryukti alone is very brief and only provides a list of terms (ĀVN 131: s. above) and a list of examples (ĀVN 135: s. below), it seems preferable to first address the next exegetical layer. Thus, I shall start with a translation of the relevant part of the cūrni (115.5-116.14). It gives (1) a
