shabdapramANa in VP- 5

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shabdapramANa in VP- 5

 

In addition to the primary and implied senses described above, there is

another kind of meaning known as gauNa or secondary. This s found in such

expressions as, " Ranjit Singh was known as the lion of Punjab " . Here the

qualities of a lion such as courage, majesty, etc., are attributed to a

person. Other examples are, " He is a moving encyclopaedia " , " He is a

fire-brand " .

 

There are sentences in the karma kANDa of the vedas which are known as

'arthavAda'. These convey either praise or censure. They become meaningful

only when they are connected with sentences containing an injunction. One

example is the statement. " He cried " in the taittirIya samhitA. There is a

rather funny story behind this. Once, when the gods went to fight a war,

they entrusted their valuables to the deity agni for safe custody. When the

gods came back and asked for the return of the valuables, agni ran away with

them. The gods chased him and caught him. Then agni began to cry. His tears

became silver. Therefore, if a person performing a sacrifice gives silver

as dakshiNa to the priests, some cause will arise for weeping in the

sacrificer's family within a year.

 

This arthavAda is to be connected with injunctions regarding sacrifices. The

object is to say that silver should not be given as dakshiNa, but only gold.

 

 

The pUrvamImAmsakas contend that the statements in the jnAna kANDa of

the vedas, which do not lay down any injunctions should be considered as

arthavAdas. Shri Shankara refutes this contention in his brahmasUtra bhAshya

on the ground that the mere statement about brahman gives rise to knowledge

that leads to liberation and so such statements are not mere arthavAdas.

 

 

 

According to the nyAya school the vedas are means of valid knowledge

because they are produced by God who is eternal and omniscient and they are

paurusheya. The mImAmsakas do not accept this view. They hold that the vedas

are eternal, they were never created by any person, human or divine and they

are never subject to destruction. They are therefore apaurusheya.

 

The advaitins also hold that the vedas are apaurusheya, but their reason

for this is different from that of the mImAmsakas. According to VP the vedas

are not eternal, but they have an origin, as stated in such shruti texts as,

" The Rigveda, yajurveda, sAmaveda, rtc., are the breath of the Infinite

Reality " (Br.up. 2.4.10). At the beginning of each cycle of creation God

manifests the vedas exactly as hey were in the previous kalpa (cycle of

creation). So they are not the creation of any person. The smRitis and the

epics are composed by human beings (sages) and so they are not apaurusheya.

 

S.N.Sastri

 

End of the chapter on shabda in VP.