Mishra 1

Debashree Mishra
Prof Nilakanth Dash
Introduction to Paninis System of Grammar & Indian Logic
1 October 2015
A Reading of Padartha in Annambhattas Tarka-Samgraha
Padartha comes from the root words padasya and artha. Artha means object or
meaning or purpose. The sense travels to artha. Thus padartha is a thing with a name or an
article/object which imparts knowledge. In this assignment we limit ourselves to a reading of
padartha from the view of a single school of Indian philosophy.
There are seven categories of [padartha]: - Substance, Quality, Action, Generality,
Particularity, Co-inherence or Intimate relation and Negation. dravya guna karma
samanya visesa samavaya abhavah saptapadarthah. Nyaya writings do not explain
how this classification is obtained but we can make some clear assumptions.
A notion is either positive or negative, and so the external object of a notion might be
bhav or abhav. Bhav things again are of two kinds, properties and a common
substratum in which they resisde. The latter is dravya. Of the properties, again, some
reside in many objects conjointly, others in individuals singly. First is samanya, while
the latter class is again divisible into properties that are stationary and those that are
evanescent, i.e. guna and karma.
Other philosophical schools also have different classifications of padartha which suits their
theory.
From the seven categories, the category of dravya consists of nine and only nine:
Earth, Water, Light, Air, Ether, Time, Space, Soul and Mind. tatra dravyani prithvi ap
tejo vayu akasa kala dig atma manamsi navaiva. Mimamsakas argue that

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darkness is also a category of dravya as it is blue and it moves. But it cannot fall under any of
the categories. It has colour while five of the classes are colourless. It is not air as it has
neither touch nor motion. It is not light as it is not white nor hot. It is not water as it is neither
cool nor white. Thus darkness should be a tenth dravya. However, this is disregarded as
darkness is seen simply as the negation of light. It is the absence of a significant light.
There are 24 qualities colour, taste, odour, touch, number, dimension/magnitude,
severalty, conjunction/contact, disjunction, priority/propinquity, remoteness, weight, fluidity,
viscidity, sound, intellect/understanding, pleasure, pain, desire, aversion, effect/volition,
merit, demerit and faculty/impression. rupa rasa gandha sparsa sankhya parimana
prthaktva samyoga vibhaga paratva aparatva gurutva dravatva sneha savda
buddhi sukha dukkha iccha dvesa prayatna dharma adharma samskarah
caturvimsati gunah. Guna is defined as, possessing generality and being at the same time
different from substances and motions. It is distinct from dravya which is self-sufficient
while guna depends on something else and from karma which is transitory while guna
permanent or immutable. Guna defines the nature of a thing, belongs to it perpetually as an
individual, or commonly with others. Gunas are further divided into samanya and visesah. A
visesah guna is a quality which exists in only one object at a given time and does not coexist
in two or more objects simultaneously (such as intellect, pleasure, pain, etc.). Samanya gunas
are those which reside in two or more objects together (number, quantity, severalty, etc.).
There is a further division of gunas: ekindriyah those perceived by one external sense
(colour, taste, odour and touch), diindriyah those perceived by two external senses (number,
dimension, conjunction, priority, disjunction, posteriority, fluidity and viscidity) and
atindriyah those not perceived by any external sense (gravity, merit, demerit and faculty).
Motion or Action is of five kinds: Tossing or throwing upwards, dropping or throwing
downwards, contraction, expansion and going or Motion in general. utksepana avaksepana

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akuncana prasarana gamanani pancakarmani. Karma means the action innate to a

particular substance, but it is not a quality, and it is the direct and immediate cause of union
and disconnection. The division of karma into five types is not entirely logical. Motion is
divided based on direction vertical, horizontal and slanting (miscellaneous). Vertical motion
may be from bottom upwards utksepana, from top downwards avaksepana. Horizontal
motion may be nearer to self akuncana, further from self prasarana. Miscellaneous
motions such as gyration, evacuation, flow, flaming up, and slanting motion are classed under
gaman or simple going.
Genus or generality is of two kinds, wider or extensive and narrower or limited.
param aparam ca-iti dvividham samanyam. Annambhatta defines samanya as
nityamekamanekanugatm. Samanya resides in Dravya, Guna and Karma. Generality has
three characteristics: 1. it is everlasting, 2. it is one, 3. it is present in several. Conjunction
and some other qualities are found in several but they are not ceaseless therefore nitya in the
definition of samanya excludes them. The notion of generality depends on our own
perception. A quality is samanya if we see it as residing in many; the same is visesah if we
see it as different. If a property exists in many different objects but they are all one of a kind
if we use the property to group them, it is samanya; if it is used to distinguish them from all
the other objects of the world, it is visesah. Annambhatta divided samanya into par and apar,
higher extensive and lower extensive. The instances are satta and dravatva.
The individualities and particularities residing in eternal things are innumerable.
nitya dravya vrttayo visesah tu ananta eva. The concept of visesah or particularity is the
counterpart to that of samanya or generality. Annambhatta says that visesah is that which
resides in everlasting substances serving the purpose of distinguishing them from each other.
Furthermore, these individualities are numerous, one for each eternal substance. Another
definition for visesah is that which distinguishes self from itself. Visesah performs the

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function of duality. It differentiates one eternal substance from all the others. Also, it
differentiates itself from other visesahs and all else. The second distinction is important
because we would have to define a second visesah to differentiate it from the first and so on
till infinity. The eternal substances to which visesahs are innate are atoms of earth, water,
light and air along with the other substances, ether, time, space, soul and mind. Visesah is a
padartha which accounts for the differences in atoms and eternal substances. A pen is
different from a pencil since the composition of the former is different from that of the latter.
Since atoms have no parts it is impossible to put forth a distinction. This is same for
permanent substances like ether, time and space. Thus we must assume that there is an
individuality in each substance to justify its distinct character. This individuality is the
visesah of that substance. The theory of visesah is not recognized by all the schools of
philosophy. They argue that if it is necessary to have visesahs to distinguish atoms then there
should be a third attribute to distinguish various kinds of visesahs from each other. However,
from what we have seen visesahs themselves are enough to distinguish themselves from each
other. Then atoms should be able to distinguish themselves as well. It is argued that instead of
attributing a visesah to an atom and then attributing an innate quality to the visesah, it would
be easier to directly attribute an innate quality to the atom directly and completely scrap the
concept of visesah. This is a very tempting idea and had been put forward by many scholars
over time.
Intimate union (inherence) is one only. samavayah tu eka eva. Samavaya represents
the act of coming closer together. Thus it signifies an intimate union between two things.
These two things are inseparable and a process of separating them would destroy them. Due
to this the definition intimate union is more applicable than co-inherence which was given
by Ballantyne. Annambhatta defines samavaya as a permanent connection existing between
two things that are always found inseparable. Samavaya is called nityasambandh in contrast

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to sanyog which is a guna and is anitya. Things which are always dependent on the other such
as a jar on its constituents or the quality on the substance are termed as ayutsidh. Those
substances which have never existed in separate condition are ayutsidh. The things which
have once existed in separation and later joined which can be separated at any point are
called yutsidh. The jar has never existed separately from the two halves and is thus
categorised under this. Thus the relation of the jar with the halves is samavaya. Samavaya is
nitya because it cannot be produced or destroyed without producing or destroying the
product. It is not entirely right to consider samavaya has a connection between two distinct
things and different from sanyog. To avoid this problem, samavaya is considered as a separate
padartha and not as a guna.
Negation is of four kinds: - antecedent or non-production, consequent or destruction,
absolute

and

reciprocal.

abhavah

caturvidhah,

pragabhavah,

pradhvamsabhavah,

atyantabhavah ca iti. Antecedent is that which exists before the production of a thing.
Consequent comes after its destruction. Absolute exists everywhere except where the thing
itself is present. Reciprocal is the denial of one thing being any other. For example, gold is
not silver because it lacks the inherent quality of silver-ness. It is the negation of identity.
Abhava is further divided into sansarg and anyonya. In the former, negation of one thing is
due to contact with something external. The latter represents a shared non-identity of two
things.
From this understanding of the seven categories or padartha, we see how matter is
classified. Such categorization helps in the detailed study of all forms of matter. There are
various definitions of matter in other schools of thought of Nyaya, Vaisesika, Yoga, Sankhya,
Vedanta and Mimamsa. Here, however, a discussion of padartha is presented in a limited
view. This is taken from Tarka-Samgraha, which gives a basic yet thorough understanding of
padartha and does justice to the subject.

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