Verse 887

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:

अस्त्यर्थः सर्वशब्दानामिति प्रत्याय्यलक्षणम् ।
अपूर्वदेवतास्वर्गैः सममाहुर्गवादिषु ॥ ८८७ ॥

astyarthaḥ sarvaśabdānāmiti pratyāyyalakṣaṇam |
apūrvadevatāsvargaiḥ samamāhurgavādiṣu || 887 ||

They say that what is denoted by the verb ‘to be’ constitutes the ‘import’ of all words,—in connection with the cow and such things; it is just as in the case of words like apūrva, (unseen force), devatā (deity) and svarga (heaven).—(887)

 

Kamalaśīla’s commentary (tattvasaṃgrahapañjikā):

The following Text proceeds to show what are the denotations of the verb ‘to be’ and so forth:—[see verse 887 above]

The particle ‘iti’ is misplaced; it should be construed with ‘astyarthaḥ What is meant is as follows:—What is cognised as denoted by the verb ‘to be’ forms the ‘Import’ of all words; i.e. it represents the denotation of all words; i.e. it forms the ‘Import of words Hence, in the case of the Cow and such objects, what forms the import of the words ‘Cow’ etc. is similar to the Import of such words as ‘Unseen Force’, ‘Deity’ and ‘Heaven—This is what these people say. That is to say, the word ‘Unseen Force’ does not introduce into the Cognition the form of any object,—and all that is understood from, it is that such a thing does exist to which the term ‘Unseen Force’ is applied so also is the case with words the things expressed by which are visible,—such as the word ‘Cow’ for instance. Because from these words also what is understood is that there is ang which is spoken of by the word ‘Cow’, or which is related to the ‘Universal’ Cow. As regards the particular form of this Cognition, which enters into the consciousness of some people,—that is due to the influence of their own doctrines.—(887)