________________
£24
how long the series will continue; there is no explanation of the obvious fact that favourable wind facilitates the hearing of a word; there is no explanation why the alleged propagation should take place in all the directions; it is strange that a momentary entity perishing without a residue should produce another entity; wave-like motion is possible only in the case of entities possessed of a momentum and an activity; it is difficult to see why the propagation of a word-series should be obstructed by a wall or the like where too sky is available after all (vv. 90-99)." At the lose of his counter--argumentation, Kumārila remarks that better than this are the acount offered by the Jainas and Sankhyas (vv. 106-7), but he soon starts arguing against the latter too. According to the Jainas, words are a type of physical substances but Kumarila finds it difficult to conceive of any type of physical substances which can perform the function of a word (vv. 107-13). According to the Sankhyas, an object first produces in the sense--organ concernd a modification bearing its own form while this modification then reaches where the object happens to lie (a special case being where a word is the object and the auditory organ the sense-organ). Kumarila flode it difficult to see how an object can act on a sense--organ from a distance or how the alleged 'modification' of a sense-organ should behave in the manner described (vv. 113-17), he particularly remarks that on this hypothesis it should be more difficult to hear a word when wind is flowing from it towarde the auditory sense-organ (for the alleged 'modification' will now be travelling counter to the flowing wind) (vv. 118--19). In the end Kumārila makes a passing remark against the doctrine subscribed to by the Buddhists according to which the auditory sense--organ hears a word without coming in contact with it; his submission is that in that case there should be no reason why the auditory sense--organ should hear one word rather than another, should hear it distinctly rather than otherwise, and so on and so forth (vv. 120-21). After this much consideration of the views Kumärila offers his own account of the phenomenon in question, it runs as follows (vv. 121--30): "The air from within the chestregion, goes out but while going out it experiences conjunction-cum-disjunction with the vocal organs like palate etc. and assumes a specific form that corresponds to this conjunction-cum-disjunction (vv. 121-221). Since this air is possessed of a momentum its motion lasts only so long as the momentum lasts, and while on the move it experiences conjunction -cum-disjunction with. the steady air that exists all around (vv. 123-24). It is this air which reaching the sky-region-confined-to-an-auditoryorgan produces in it a refinement that enables it to hear a word (vv. 124). In the case of air like this it is easy to see why its motion should be obstructed by a wall or the like (v. 128). Moreover, since this air is possessed of a definite sucesive order while it itself as well as its momentum are of a limited duration it is also easy to see why the re11nement produced by it should be possessed of a definite successive order and be intense or mild (vv. 129-30)." In this connection Kumārila vehemently and at length argues against the view of certain Mimämsakas according to which the refinement in question is itself what constitutes the auditory sense-organ (vv. 100
Jain Education International
Slokavartka-addy
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
