Verse 3.7.10

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 3.7.10:

घटस्य दृशिकर्मत्वे महत्त्वादीनि साधनम् ।
रूपस्य दृशिकर्मत्वे रूपत्वादीनि साधनम् ॥ १० ॥

ghaṭasya dṛśikarmatve mahattvādīni sādhanam |
rūpasya dṛśikarmatve rūpatvādīni sādhanam || 10 ||

10. It is magnitude etc. which are the means whereby a jar becomes the object of vision and it is the quality of being colour and the like which are the means whereby colour becomes the object of vision.

Commentary

[In the expression ‘ghaṭam paśyati’ = ‘he sees the jar’, ghaṭa has become the object of the action of seeing. The qualities of being ‘big’ and of being made up of compound things which inhere in the jar are the means whereby the jar has become the object of the action of seeing. Kaṇāda has said; “Things having magnitude are perceived because they are made up of compound things and have colour.” (Vai. Sū. 4.1.6). A binary (dvyaṇuka) is called a compound because it is made up of more than one thing and a tertiary and other things are said to be made up of compounds. The atom (paramāṇu) has colour, but it cannot be perceived because it is not made up of more than one thing. A binary is not perceptible because it is not made up of compounds. What is said of the atom is applicable to other imperceptible things also. The fact of having colour is a second cause. Air has magnitude, is made up of compounds, but is not perceptible because it has no colour. Though magnitude is not a cause of perceptibility, it is connected with it, because what is perceptible has magnitude. That is why we have the plural number in ‘mahattvādīni’ occurring in the verse. Or it may be because the author wants to include such universals as dravyatva among the causes of perceptibility. Universals are causes of perceptibility because it is because of them that we perceive things as different from other things. That the fact of being made up of compound things is a cause of perceptibility implies that a thing must be a whole having parts before it can be perceived. The quality of being colour (rūpatva) is a means of perceiving colour, Colour is perceptible because it inheres in an object which is a whole having parts and also because it is in a manifested state. The colour of the ocular ray is not perceptible because it is not in a manifested state. The colour of the atom is not perceptible because it does not inhere in a whole having part.]