Verse 2280-2281

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

वर्णाः सर्वगतत्वाद्वो न स्वतः क्रमवृत्तयः ।
अनित्यध्वनिकार्यत्वात्क्रमस्यातो विनाशिता ॥ २२८० ॥
पुरुषाधीनता चास्य तद्विवक्षावशाद्भवेत् ।
वर्णानां नित्यता तेन भवतां निष्फला भवेत ॥ २२८१ ॥

varṇāḥ sarvagatatvādvo na svataḥ kramavṛttayaḥ |
anityadhvanikāryatvātkramasyāto vināśitā || 2280 ||
puruṣādhīnatā cāsya tadvivakṣāvaśādbhavet |
varṇānāṃ nityatā tena bhavatāṃ niṣphalā bhaveta || 2281 ||

“[The opponent continues]—‘as, according to you, the letters are all-pervading, any particular arrangement cannot be inherent in themselves; because the arrangement is the product of articulation which is not-eternal,—It must, on that account, be non-eternal.—further, the said arrangement must be dependent upon the whim of the speaker, as it owes its appearance to his desire to speak. thus the eternality of the letters would be useless for you—[Ślokavārtika—eternality of words, 279-280].—(2280-2281)

 

Kamalaśīla’s commentary (tattvasaṃgrahapañjikā):

According to you—Mīmāṃsakas—Letters are all-pervading; hence there can be no order or arrangement among them, in relation to space; nor can it be in relation to time, because they are eternal; hence it could be there only as due to the articulation that manifests them;—and as this articulation is not eternal, what is due to it must also be non-eternal.

The argument may be formulated as follows:—‘What is due to something non-eternal must be non-eternal,—e.g. the Jar;—the order of the Letters is due to something non-eternal; hence this is a reason based upon the nature of things.’

Then again, what comes about through the man’s ‘desire to speak’ must be treated by the intelligent as of human origin,—like the shaking of the hands, the winking of the Eye and so forth;—and the Order of the Letters (in a word) comes about by the desire of man;—hence this is a Reason based upon the nature of things.—(2280-2281)