Chapter 7 - ‌Concluding Observations

The present thesis entitled Tattvabindu of Vācaspati Miśra: A Study has been prepared in seven chapters of which the last one is devoted to a conclusion. Vācaspati Miśra’s Tattvabindu, a prakaraṇa is an important treatise of the Bhāṭṭa school of Pūrvamīmāṃsā.

The present thesis deals with a study of the treatise in which five traditional views regarding the efficient cause of verbal comprehension are discussed. In this context, four views as pūrvapakṣa (prime facie) namely sphoṭavāda, varṇavāda, varṇamālāvāda and anvitābhidhānavāda are presented. On the other hand, the abhihitānvayavāda of the Bhāṭṭa Mīmāṃsakas is presented as the siddhānta view.

The first chapter of the thesis is an introduction to the Mīmāṃsā system in which the points of difference between both the sister schools viz. the Bhāṭṭa and Prābhākara are discussed. Moreover, the details of both the systems are presented in it. A brief account of the Tattvabindu is also presented in the introduction which contains the views of verbal comprehension. Again the date, place and works of the author of the Tattvabindu are discussed in this chapter.

In the second chapter of the thesis, sphoṭavāda and its refutation by Vācaspati Miśra are discussed. The discussion of the sphoṭavāda occupies almost half of the work. Sphoṭa is a name given to the radical śabda which communicates the meaning to the hearers as different from dhvani or the sound in ordinary experience. The grammarians who followed Pāṇini and who were headed by

Bhartṛhari entered into discussions regarding the philosophy of grammar and introduced by way of deduction from Pāṇini’s grammar, an important theory that śabda which communicates the meaning is different from the sound which is produced and heard and which is merely instrumental in manifestation of an internal voice which is called sphoṭa.

The theory of sphoṭa is the first view regarding the śābdabodha in the Tattvabindu. The derivative meaning of the word sphoṭa is discussed in this chapter.

Various views on sphoṭa are also discussed in it. It also contains the classification of sphoṭa. The theory of sphoṭa of Bhartṛhari deals with at length in it. Objections against sphoṭa by the Mīmāṃsakas and the Naiyāyikas are also dealt with in this chapter. Refutation of the same by Vācaspati Miśra is also presented in this chapter.

The refutation of the second view is varṇavāda is presented in chapter three of the dissertation. Varṇavāda is propounded by the Naiyāyikas who maintain that varṇas and padas are the cause of arthapratīti (knowledge of the meaning) of the sentences. This view is also refuted by Vācaspati who supports Kūmārila in this case.

Chapter four of the thesis contains rejection of the varṇamālāvāda advocated by the Mīmāṃsakas like Upavarśa and others. This view of the Mīmāṃsakas is rejected by the author of the Tattvabindu. The varṇamālāvāda of the Mīmāṃsakas regarding the verbal comprehension is discarded from the point of view of the abhihitānvayavāda which is intended by Vācaspati Miśra to establish at the end of the Tattvabindu. The refutation of the theory of varṇamālā helps to maintain the theory of abhihitānvaya of the Bhāṭṭamīmāṃsakas.

The fifth chapter of the thesis is devoted to the theory of anvitābhidhāna of the Prābhākara Mīmāṃsakas and the Viśiṣṭādvaitavādins. According to this theory, the meaning of a sentence is conveyed by the words which in a sentence come to be related to one another and then convey their meaning. The causes of verbal comprehension i.e., this theory of the verbal comprehension is discarded by Vācaspati Miśra.

In the sixth chapter of the thesis, we have discussed the theory of abhihitānvaya advocated by the Bhāṭṭa school of Mīmāṃsā which is supported and accepted by Vācaspati Miśra as the cause of śābdabodha. This theory is also accepted by the Vedāntins and some Naiyāyikas. According to Kumārila Bhaṭṭa, the meaning of a sentence is always conveyed by the meanings of the words obtained from the words themselves.

Vācaspati Miśra, the celebrated commentator (known as Ṣaḍdarśana vācaspati) of Indian philosophy, composed the Tattvabindu which deals with the efficient cause of the verbal comprehension. In this treatise, he proposes to establish the theory of abhihitānvaya as the efficient cause of verbal comprehension. He has refuted the other four views including the theory of anvitābhidhāna advocated by Prabhākara Miśra. Vācaspati Miśra, a supporter of the Bhāṭṭamīmāṃsaka Kumārila, accepts the theory of abhihitānvaya as the efficient cause of the verbal comprehension. He discards the other views including the first view of sphoṭa advocated by the grammarians. What is a word? The word is verbal unit composed of a number of letters. Among people, the term ‘word’ is applied to what is apprehended by the ear. On the other hand, in case of the word gauḥ what is apprehended by the ear is the unit composed of the said letters. Śabara, the commentator of the Mīmāṃsāsūtra, says that what happens is that each component letter, as it uttered, leaves an impression behind and what brings about the cognition of the denotation of the word is the last component letter along with the impression of each of the preceding component letters. In actual experience, the composite word-unit is never found to be anything entirely different from the component letters. So, there can be no ‘word’ apart from the component letters. This is much simpler hypothesis than that of the grammarians who have to postulate the sphoṭa as totally different from the component letters. Vācaspati being a supporter of the Bhāṭṭa Mīmāṃsā does not accept sphoṭavāda as the efficient cause of śābdabodha and as such he discards the view of the grammarians and he is found right to accept the theory of abhihitānvaya of Kumārila.