Verse 1157-1158

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

नासौ न पचनीत्युक्ते गम्यते पचतीति हि ।
औदासीन्यादियोगश्च तृतीयेन हि गम्यते ॥ ११५७ ॥
तुर्ये तु तद्विविक्तोऽसौ पचतीत्यवसीयते ।
तेनात्र विधिवाक्येन सममन्यनिवर्त्तनम् ॥ ११५८ ॥

nāsau na pacanītyukte gamyate pacatīti hi |
audāsīnyādiyogaśca tṛtīyena hi gamyate || 1157 ||
turye tu tadvivikto'sau pacatītyavasīyate |
tenātra vidhivākyena samamanyanivarttanam || 1158 ||

When it is said ‘nāsau na pacati’ (‘it is not that he does not cook’) what is understood is that ‘he cooks’; if a third negative is added, what is understood is either that ‘he is doing nothing’ or that ‘he is doing something other than cooking’;—and when a fourth negative is added, what is understood is something differentiated from this last, that is, ‘he is cooking’. So that here the ‘exclusion of another’ is similar to that in the case of the affirmative sentence.—(1157-1158)

 

Kamalaśīla’s commentary (tattvasaṃgrahapañjikā):

The Author makes this same idea clear by means of an Example:—[see verses 1157-1158 above]

‘Differentiated, etc.’—i.e. from the idea of his doing nothing, or of his doing something other than cooking.

‘Exclusion of another is similar to that in the case, etc. etc.’;—Just as in the case of the affirmative sentence ‘He is cooking’, what is expressed by implication is the negation of his doing nothing or doing something else,—so also in the case of the second negative, it is seen that it expresses the negation of the same doing nothing, etc. It is only for the purpose of making things clearer that the use of four negatives has been cited.—(1157-1158)