Twenty general physical attributes

Caraka gives a separate list of twenty general physical attributes. They are:

1. heavy (guru),
2. light (laghu),
3. cold (śīta),
4. hot (uṣṇa),
5. viscous or unctuous (snigdha),
6. dry or non- unctuous (rūkṣa),
7. inert or dull (manda),
8. sharp or penetrative (tīkṣṇa),
9. stable (sthira),
10. fluid (sara),
11. soft (mṛdu),
12. hard (kaṭhiṇa),
13. non-slimy or clear (viśada),
14. slimy (picchila)
15. smooth (ślakṣṇa),
16. rough (khara),
17. subtle (sūkṣma),
18. coarse (sthūla),
19. dense (sāndra),
20. liquid (drava).^[1]

Vāgbhaṭa also enumerates the same,^[2] while Nāgārjuna enumerates only ten, namely śīta, uṣṇa, snigdha, rūkṣa, viśada, picchila, guru, laghu, mṛdu, and tīkṣṇa.^[3]

Dasgupta has suggested that Caraka has not enumerated these guṇas as belonging to substances, but only to food and drink that we take.^[4] This is not credible because Caraka has clearly classified these twenty attributes into five groups and stated that each group is shared by a particular physical substance.^[5] Moreover, he again gives a sub classification in accordance with their distribution among the three doṣas. In Rasavaiśeṣikasūtra, it is stated that śīta, uṣṇa, guru, laghu, mṛdu, kaṭhiṇa, karkaśa, and ślakṣṇa are tactile.^[6]

Among the twenty attributes guru, śīta, uṣṇa, snigdha, and drava are the only attributes found included in the Vaiśeṣika's table. Accordingly, gurutva is used in the sense of weight. It is explained as the cause of motion for falling down of earthly and watery objects.^[7] Gurutva is neutralised by conjunction, volition, and faculty (saṃskāra). For instance, a person does not fall from a swing because of his conjunction with it. The body of a person does not fall because the weight is counteracted by his volition. Similarly, the arrow shot does not drop, since its weight is neutralized by velocity.^[8] Śīta and uṣṇa are included in the specific quality of touch. Sneha is the specific quality of water which causes the thickening of powder^[9] in such a way that its particles are held together.^[10]

Dravatva is the attribute which causes the motion of flowing.^[11] It is of two types: natural (sāṃsiddhika) and artificial (naimittika) Natural is the specific quality of water and artificial is the general quality of earth.^[12]

Annaṃbhaṭṭa refers to laghutva and argues that it is nothing but negation of gurutva. Similarly, mṛdutva and kaṭhinatva are said as determining the relative compactness associated with conjunction of the component parts of the effect.^[13]

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

“..........viṃśatiguṇāḥ, guru - laghu - śīto - ṣṇa - snigdha - rūkṣa manda - tīkśṇa - sthira - sara - mṛdu - kaṭhina - viśada - picchala ślāṣṇa - khara - sūkṣma - sthūla - sāndra - dravānugamāt”; CS, Su, XXV. 36.

[2]:

Aṣṭāṅgahṛdaya of Vāgbhaṭa., Su, I. 18. See also Aṣṭāṅgasaṅgraha of Vāgbhaṭa., Su, I. p. 9.

[3]:

śītoṣṇasnigdharūkṣaviśadapicchalagurulaghumṛdu tīkśṇa guṇāḥ karmaṇyāḥ, Rasavaiśeṣika-sūtra of Bhadantanāgarjuna., III. 111.

[4]:

HIPS, Vol. II, p. 369.

[5]:

See Infra, p. 135.

[6]:

Rasavaiśeṣika-sūtra of Bhadantanāgarjuna., II. 57.

[7]:

“gurutvaṃ jalabhūmyoḥ patanakarmakāraṇaṃ”. Praśastapādabhāṣya., p. 640; See also Vaiśeṣikadarśana., V. i. 7, 18; V. ii. 3.

[8]:

Nyāyakandalī, Praśastapādabhāṣya., p. 642.

[9]:

Praśastapādabhāṣya., p. 645. Bhāsarvajña do no accept sneha as the specific quality of water since it is present in ghee as has been accepted by Ayurveda, see Nyāyabhūṣaṇa of Bhasarvajña., p. 164.

[10]:

TSA, p. 20.

[11]:

“dravatvaṃ syantanakarmakāraṇaṃ”, Praśastapādabhāṣya., p. 641.

[12]:

Ibid, p. 641 - 42.

[13]:

TSA, p. 5.