Verse 3.14.310

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 3.14.310:

असत्सामान्यवृत्तिर्वा विशेषैः क्षत्रियादिभिः ।
प्रयुक्तैराश्रयैर्भिन्नो याति तल्लिङ्गसङ्ख्यताम् ॥ ३१० ॥

asatsāmānyavṛttirvā viśeṣaiḥ kṣatriyādibhiḥ |
prayuktairāśrayairbhinno yāti talliṅgasaṅkhyatām || 310 ||

310. That which denotes non-existence in general is specified by the particular substrata which are mentioned and so takes their gender and number.

Commentary

So far the possibility of gender and number in general in a negative compound has been stated as due to the natural power of words. How it acquires a particular gender and number is now explained.

[Read verse 310 above]

[Non-existence or negation in general, qualified by the meaning of the second constituent, is the meaning of the negative compound in the pūrvapadārthapradhānapakṣa. In order to specify it, words expressive of the particular are used and the compound is qualified by it and becomes fit for use. It is right that it should take the gender and number of the particular. Objects are different from one another and so something like kṣattriya is the substratum of the absence of brāhmaṇattva and so the compound should take the gender and number of the word kṣattriya. Moreover, objects can have any gender but the word expressive of it restricts it to one of them. The same object can be referred to by words having different genders. Kṣattriya and kṣattram refer to the same thing, though they have different genders. Similarly, the masculine word abrāhmaṇa can also refer to the same thing as the neuter word kṣattram. It is nature which regulates gender and number just as it is the natural power of words which regulates that a compound should denote a substance and not asattva.]