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SAHRDAYĀLOKA this question in the beginning of his sabdā'nuśāsana. For him, word, in its essential aspect, differs from substance i.e. dravya, action i.e. kriyā, quality i.e. guna and class i.e. jāti. A sound expressive of sense is called sabda by people : "athavā pratīta-padārthako loke dhvanih sabda ity ucyate.” (M. bh. I. i. 1). That which really constitutes the 'word', when one utters 'gauh' is the sound, which along with its utterance, simultaneously gives the idea of an animal having dewlap, hoofs, horns, etc. etc. A word, therefore, is sound—"tasmāt dhvanih śabdah."-"atha gauh ity atra kah sabdah ? kim yat, tat sāsnădi-langūla-kakudkhura-visāna-rūpam sa sabdah ? na ity āha. dravyam nāma tat ..... tasmāt dhvanih śabdah.” (M. bh. I. i. 1).
When a word like 'gauh' is pronounced, the following concepts appear in the mind of the hearers, viz. - the individual cow, cow's action, qualities, gen class cow, the shape of the cow, and also the word made up of 'g', 'au' and 'h'the visarga'. The hearer wants to find out the exact significance. The individual cow, her qualities, etc. are perceived by the eye, while the word 'gauh' is perceived by the ear. So, how can these two perceptions of different senses be taken as the meaning of the word ? But this can be taken as the meaning on the basis of a rule of the grammarians viz. that a thing is not different from another thing, when it is so also with a third thing not different from that another thing-tad abhinnā'bhinnasya tad abhinnatvam." Patañjali, however, says that äkriti, guna, etc. are not the true significance of a sabda, but the true significance is 'sphota' --that which, when manifested, enables the hearer to have a clear apprehension of the object cow.
Patañjali has given a detailed discussion in the form of the pūrva-paksa or the objector's view and uttara-paksa i.e. the view of the siddhāntin which is a rejoinder to the objection,-to prove that varnas or sound units by themselves have no meaning. In order to understand this discussion, we may refer to the opinion of Upavarsa, accepted by the pūrva-mīmāmsaka Sabara, and the uttara-mīmāmsaka Sankara. Sabara refers to this view of Upavarsa at Mi. Sū. I. i. 5, and Sankara refers to it at I. iii. 28, in his bhāsya on the Vedānta Sūtras. : "gaur ity atra kah śabdaḥ ? gakāra-aukāra-visarjanīyāh iti bhagavān Upavarśah" (S. B. on Mi. Sū. I. i. 5), and 'varṇāḥ eva tu sabdah' iti bhagavān Upavarşah” (Sankara, on Vedānta Sūtra, I. iii. 28). Sabara holds that 'aksarāny eva padam' (S. B. on Mi. Sū. I. i. 5), i.e. syllables alone constitute a word. Thus, he refuses to recognise sound as distinct from syllables.-"ato na tebhyo vyatiriktam anyat padam nāma iti." The pūrvapaksa as given by Patañjali is akin to this—“kim punar ime varnaḥ
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