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EXAMINATION OF THE IMPORT OF WORDS.
587
This has been said in accordance with the doctrine of the Vaishēşikas. In case that doctrine is not accepted, and it is held that Number does belong to the Universal--then, in what way could it be established that the Individuals, Dhava and other trees, are qualified by that Number (of the Universal) ?
The following explanation might be offered - It conld be so established either (indirectly) through the connection of the connected, or through direct Connection itself ; that is, if the Nurnber is something different from the Universal, then the Universal would be connected with the Singular Number, and without Universal there would be connection of the Individuals, trees, Dhard and the rest ; thus the qualifying of the Dhava and other Individual Trees would be done indirectly ;-if, on the other hand, the Number is not something different from the Universal, then that would be directly connected with the Individual Trees, which would thus become qualified by that Number. In this way it would be established that the Individuals are
qualified by the Number of the Universal (1138)
The following Text supplies the answer to the explanation given in the latter part of the preceding Text) -
TEXT (1139).
IF IT BE SO, THEN EVEN A SINGLE TREE COULD BE SPOKEN OF AS' Vana' (FOREST)SEVERAL TREES ALSO ARE SPOKEN OF AS SUCH ONLY THROUGH Connection, AND THAT IS PRESENT IN THE
SINGLE TREE ALSO.-(1139)
COMMENTARY
If the application of the word vana' to Individual Treen, Dhard and the rest, be due only to the presence of the connection of the Connected, or of Connection itself, then even a single tree could be spoken of as Vana'; as the basis of the application would be present there. For instance, even the several trees-Dhava and the rest-are spoken of as Vana', only through the connection of the Number of the Universal,—and not through anything else; and this connection is present in the single Tree also why then should this also not be spoken of as 'vana'?-(1139)
It has been asserted (in Tesce 1136, by Kumarila) that "the word vana! may be taken as denoting the Universal subsisting in the many individual trees)".
The answer to this is as follows:
