Categories in the Vaiśeṣika system

According to Kaṇāda, all object of knowledge or all real comes under padārtha.^[1] He mentions in his Vaiśeṣikasūtra only six categories.

These are:

1. dravya (substance),
2. guṇa (quality),
3. karma (action),
4. sāmānya (generality),
5. viśeṣa (particularity), and
6. Samavāya (inherence).^[2]

Kaṇāda does not mention abhāva (negation) as a separate category, but later Vaiśeṣikas recognize abhāva as the seventh category. Śrīdhara, in his Nyāyakaṇḍalī, clarifies this point by saying that Kaṇāda did not mention abhāva separately because abhāva depends on bhāva (existence). That means non-existence depends on existence for its knowledge and therefore, there is no need to state abhāva separately.^[3] But the later Nyāyavaiśeṣika writers adopt the seven categories of the Vaiśeṣikas.^[4]

Udayana divides the seven categories into two divisions, viz., bhāva (existence) and abhāva (non-existence) and subdivides existence into first six of them.^[5]

Udayana maintains that though abhāva has a real nature, it is not stated separately, because of its nature is indicated by the categories of bhāva (existence) which are known as counter entities of negation and as it is not unreal.^[6]

Now though these seven categories are accepted by the Vaiśeṣikas, these are also in accord with the postulation of the Naiyāyikas. This is established from the commentary of Vātsyāyana. Viśvanāth Nyāyapañcānana also mentions this.^[7]

Vātsyāyana speaks of the Vaiśeṣika categories in reference to prameyas. Thus he says that there are other prameyas such as dravya, guṇa, karma, sāmānya, viśeṣa and samavāya. These are according to him, in addition to the twelve prameyas, viz. ātmā, śarīra etc. He tries to justify Gautama by saying that Gautama has enumerated only twelve prameyas as liberation can be attained from the real knowledge of the twelve prameyas and their ignorance will cause bondage.^[8]

The later writers of syncretic school absorb the Vaiśeṣika categories in their works. However, it is in the Tārkikarakṣā of Varadarāja, that we find inclusion of all these Vaiśeṣika categories in the scheme of sixteen categories. He includes them in prameya of Nyāyasūtra. Hence, he maintains that in addition to the twelve prameyas mentioned by Gautama, there are the six padārthas, dravya, guṇa, karma, sāmānya, viśeṣa and samavāya. In this way the categories of the Vaiśeṣika and the Nyāya are combined together under prameya.^[9]

Keśava Miśra in his Tarkabhāṣā has on the other hand, included the categories of Vaiśeṣika system in artha, the fourth prameya. In the Nyāyasūtra, artha means the objects of senses. But according to Keśava Miśra, artha denotes six categories of the Vaiśeṣika philosophy. He also maintains that the sixteen categories of Nyāya philosophy can be incorporated in the six categories of the Vaiśeṣika philosophy.^[10]

Other writers of syncretic school like Vallabhācārya, Viśvanātha Nyāyapañcānana, Laugākṣi Bhāskara and others do not discuss the sixteen categories of Gautama at all and accept dravya, guṇa etc. as the only categories. Some of them include pramāṇa under guṇa, while others incorporate pramāṇa in ātman. Annaṃbhaṭṭa being an exponent of the syncretic school of Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika begins his work with seven categories of Vaiśeṣikas and brings pramāṇa under guṇa. Here in our dissertation on the Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika categories, we shall only concentrate on these seven categories for detail discussion.

Among these the first three categories, i.e. dravya (substance), guṇa (quality) and karma (action) possess a real objective existence.^[11]

The other three, i.e. generality, particularity and inherence are products of intellectual discrimination (buddhyapekṣa [buddhyapekṣam]). They are logical categories.^[12]

Among the seven categories, the first six have existence, nameability and knowability. These categories are objects of the positive notion of being. They do not depend on counter of entities. They can be expressed by names. These six categories are also capable of being known, though they exist independently of being known. Moreover, they are ontological entities but not subjective notions. The first three categories, dravya, guṇa, and karma are related to beinghood which exists in them. These categories are capable of production and destruction and therefore these are causes and effects. They are not eternal. These categories can be expressed through the meaningful word. They exist in time and space.^[13] The other three categories of generality, particularity and inherence are related to themselves and they are not related to being hood. They are neither causes nor effects. These three categories are eternal. These cannot be expressed through the word. These are independent of time and space. These are ontological categories. These categories are neither spatial nor timeful entities.^[14]

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Sinha, J.N., Indian Philosophy, Vol. I, p. 339

[2]:

dharmaviśeṣaprasūtād dravyaguṇakarmasāmānyaviśeṣasamavāyānāṃ padārthānāṃ sādharmyavaidharmyābhyāṃ tatvajñānānniḥśreyasam. Vaiśeṣikasūtra, 1.1.4

[3]:

abhāvasya pṛthaganupadeśaḥ bhāvaparatantryānnatvabhāvat. Nyāyakaṇḍalī. p. 6

[4]:

Radhakrishnan, S., Indian Philosophy, Vol. II, p.167

[5]:

Laḳsanāvali, p.1

[6]:

Ibid.

[7]:

ete ca padārthā Vaiśeṣikanaye prasiddhāḥ, naiyayikanāamapi aviruddhāḥ, pratipāditaṃ caivameva bhāṣye Nyāyasiddhāntamuktāvalī, p.19

[8]:

astyanyadapi dravyaguṇakarmasāmānyaviśeṣasamavāyāḥ prameyam, tadbhedena cāparisaṃkhyeyam. asya tutatvajñānādapavargo mithyā-jñānātsaṃsāra ityata etadupadistaṃ viśeṣeṇeti. Nyāyabhāṣya, 1.1.9

[9]:

cf. Vidyabhusana, S.C., A History of Indian Logic, p.375

[10]:

arthāḥ ṣatpadārthāḥ te ca dravyaguṇakarmasāmānyaviśeṣasamavāyāḥ pramāṇādayo yadyapyatraivāntarbhavanti tathāpiprayojanavaśād bhedena kīrtanam. Tarkabhāṣā, p. 304

[11]:

saditi yato dravyaguṇakarmasu sā sattā. Vaiśeṣikasūtra, 1.2.7

[12]:

sāmānyaṃ viśeṣa iti buddhyapekṣam. Ibid., 1.2.3

[13]:

sattāsambandhaḥ sāmānyaviśeṣavatvaṃ svasamayārthaśabdā-bhidheyatvaṃ dharmādharmakartṛtvaṃ ca kāryatvānityatve kāraṇavatāmeva … Vaiśeṣikadarśanam with Praśastapādabhāṣya, p.8

[14]:

sāmānyādīnāṃ trayāṇāṃ svātmasattvaṃ buddhilakṣaṇatvamakāryatvama-kāraṇatvamasāmānyaviśeṣavatvaṃ nityatvamarthaśabdānabhidheyatvaṃ ceti. Ibid., p. 19