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A SOURCE-BOOK IN JAINA PHILOSOPHY
355
THA
Thā is the second stage of Matijñāna. In it one cognises the nature of the sensation like the sound. Nandīsūtra gives synonyms of īhā : abhoganatā, mārgaṇatā, gaveşanatā, cintā and vimarsa,1 Umāsvāti gives the synonyms as ūha, tarka, vicāraņā and jijñāsā.2
Vyañjanāvagraha is the potential condition of awareness. Arthavagraha is the dawning of the awareness. Tha is the tendency twards cognising the specific features of the object. Tha has been very often translated as speculation. But it would be more appropriate to use the word associative integration.
The Jainas thought that, as Tha is striving for determinate and specific cognition, it is possible to confuse it with doubt (sarśaya). But iha should not be confused with doubt (sarśaya) although it does involve a striving towards the determinate knowledge. In the case of doubt, the alternatives are equally pressing and they are not certain, which is to be accented. But in ihā there is a tendency to determinate cognition. I hā is the mental state in which there is striving for the ascertainment of truth. It leads to the acceptance of the true and the avoidance of the untrue. Siddhasena Divākara also draws the same line of distinction between ihā and samsaya. For instance, on receiving a sense impression of sound, there arises a doubt, whether the sound comes from the counch or horn. The mind is driven to consider the specific points of agreement and difference. The sound is perceived as a sweet and an aggreeable. This quality is attributed to the sound of the counch and not at the horn. In the Pramāṇamīmāṁsā it is said that doubt crops up in the interval between sensation (avagraha) and associative integration (ihā), even when the object is the matter of habitual perception. But the existence of the state of doubt is not easily detected owing to the rapidity of succession of mental event.5
1 Nandisutra 52 2 Ibid 31 3 Tattvārthasūtra bhāşya 1, 15 4 Višeşāvašyaka bhāşya 1, 83-84. 5 Pramānamīmāṁsā 1, 1, 27
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