śyāva-śavalāv asya āhutim abhyavaharato yaḥ samayādhyushite juhoti” atra cha uditādi-vākyānāṁ nindānumitānishṭa-sādhanatā-bodhaka-vākyavirodhaḥ | paunaruktyād aprāmānyam | Yathā "triḥ prathamām anvāha | trir uttamām anvāha" | ity atra uttamatvasya prathamatva-paryavasānāt trih kathanena cha paunaruktyam | eteshām aprāmānye tad-dṛishṭāntena tad-eka-karttṛikatvena tad-eka-jātīyatvena vā sarva-vedāprāmānyaṁ sādhaniyam iti bhāvaḥ | siddhānta-sūtram | 58. "Na karma-karttṛi-sādhanavaigunyāt" | Na vedāprāmānyam karma-karttṛi-sādhana-vaigunyāt phalābhāvopapatteḥ | karmanaḥ kriyāyāḥ vaigunyam ayathāvidhiṭvādi | karttur vaigunyam avidvattvādi | sādhanasya havir-āder vaigunyam āprokshitatvādi | Yathokta-karmanaḥ phalūbhāve hy anṛitatvam | na cha evam asti iti bhavaḥ | vyāghātam pariharati | 59. "Abhyupetya kala-bhede dosha-vachanāt" | na vyāghātaḥ iti seshaḥ | Agny-ūdhāna-kāle uditahomūdikam abhyupetya svikṛitya anudita-homādi-karane pūrvokta-doshakathanād na vyāghātaḥ ity arthaḥ | paunaruktyam pariharati | 60. "Anurudopapatteś cha" | chaḥ punar-arthe | anuvādopapatteḥ punar na paunaruktyam | nishprayojanatve hi paunaruktyam doshaḥ | ukta-sthale tv anuradasya upapatteḥ prayojanasya sambhavat | ekādaśa-sāmidhenīnām prathamottamayos trir abhidhane hi panchadaśatram sambhavati | tathācha panchadaśatvam śrūyate | “Imam aham bhrātṛivyam panchadaśāvarena vāg-vajrena cha bādhe yo 'smān dreshṭi yam̃ cha vayam dvishmaḥ” iti | Anuvādasya sārthakatvam loka-prasiddham iti āha | 61. "Vākyavibhāgasya cha artha-grahanāt" | Vākya-vibhāgasya | anuvādatvena vibhakta - vākyasya artha - grahaṇāt prayojana - svīkārāt | śishṭair iti seshaḥ | śishṭāḥ hi vidhāyakānuvādakādi-bhedena vākyām vibhajya anurādakasyāpi saprayojanatvam manyante | Vede 'py exam iti bhāvaḥ |... Evam aprāmānya-sudhakam nirasya prāmānyam sadhayati | 68. "Mantrāyurveda-vach cha tat-prāmānyam āpta-prāmāṇyāt” | Āptasya vedakarttuḥ prāmāṇyād yathārthopadeśakatvād vedasya tad-uktatvam arthāl labdham | tena hetunā vedasya prāmānyam anumeyam | tatra drishṭāntam āha mantrayurveda-vad iti | mantro vishādi-nāśakaḥ | āyurveda-bhāgaś cha veda-sthaḥ eva | tatra samvūdena prāmānya-grahat tad-drishṭāntena vedatvāvachhedena prāmāṇyam anumeyam | āptam grihītam prāmāṇyam̃ yatra sa vedas tādriśena vedatvena prāmānyam anumeyam iti kechit |

"It had been declared (Nyāya Sūtras, i. 8) that verbal evidence is of two kinds, (1) that of which the subject-matter is seen, and (2) that of which the subject-matter is unseen. With the view, now, of testing

the authority of that verbal evidence which refers to unseen things, viz. the Veda, Gotama states the first side of the question. Sutra 57. 'The Veda has no authority, since it has the defects of falsehood, selfcontradiction, and tautology.' That verbal evidence, which is distinct from such as relates to visible objects, i.e. the Veda, has no authority. Why? Because it has the defects of falsehood, etc. Of these defects, that of 'falsehood' is established by the fact that we sometimes observe that no fruit results from performing the sacrifice for a son, or the like. 'Self-contradiction' is a discrepancy between a former and a later declaration. Thus the Veda says, 'he sacrifices when the sun is risen; he sacrifices when the sun is not yet risen; he sacrifices' [I cannot explain the next words]. 'A tawny [dog?] carries away the oblation of him who sacrifices after the sun has risen; a brindled [dog?] carries off the oblation of him who sacrifices before the sun has risen; and both of these two carry off the oblation of him who sacrifices.'. ... Now here there is a contradiction between the words which enjoin sacrifices, and the words which intimate by censure that those sacrifices will occasion disastrous results. Again, the Veda has no authority, owing to its tautology,' as where it is said, 'he repeats the first thrice, he repeats the last thrice.' For as the lastness ultimately coincides with [?] the firstness, and as there is a triple repetition of the words, this sentence is tautological. Now since these particular sentences have no authority, the entire Veda will be proved by these specimens to stand in the same predicament, since all its other parts have the same author, or are of the same character, as these portions."

Here follows the Sutra which conveys the established doctrine. "58. 'The Veda is not false; it is owing to some fault in the ceremonial, or the performer, or the instrument he employs, that any sacrifice is not followed by the promised results.' Faults in the ceremonial are such as its not being according to rule. Faults in the performer are such as ignorance. Faults in the instrument, i.e. in the clarified butter, etc., are such as its not being duly sprinkled, etc. For falsehood might be charged on the Veda, if no fruit resulted from a sacrifice when duly performed as prescribed; but such failure never occurs."

Gotama next repels the charge of self-contradiction in the Vedas. "59. There is no self-contradiction, for the fault is only imputed in case the sacrifice should be performed at a different time from that

at first intended.' The fault imputed to these sacrifices in the text in question would [only] be imputed if, after agreeing, at the time of placing the sacrificial fire, to perform the sacrifice after sunrise, one were to change it to a sacrifice before sunrise; there is, therefore, no self-contradiction in the passage referred to."

He next rebuts the charge of tautology. "60. 'The Veda is not tautological because repetition may be proper.' The particle cha means 'again.' 'Again, since repetition may be proper, there is no tautology.' For repetition is only a fault when it is useless. But in the passage referred to, since repetition is proper, its utility is apparent. For when the first and the last of the eleven samidhenīs (forms of prayer used on throwing fuel into the fire) are each repeated thrice, the whole number of verses will be made up to fifteen. 108 Accordingly, this number of fifteen is mentioned in these words of the Veda, 'I smite this enemy who hates us, and whom we hate, with the last of the fifteen verses, and with the thunderbolt of my words.'"

He next observes that the advantage of repetition is commonly recognised. "61. And the Veda is not tautological, because the utility of this division of discourse is admitted,' i.e. because the necessity for such a division of language, that is, of a description of language characterized as reiterative, is acknowledged, viz. by the learned. For by dividing language into the different classes of injunctive, reiterative, etc., learned men recognise the uses of the reiterative also. And this applies to the Veda."

The author of the aphorisms then proceeds to state and to define (in Sutras 62-67) the different sorts of discourse employed in the Veda, and to defend the propriety of reiteration. "Having thus refuted the arguments which aim at showing that the Veda is of no authority, he gocs on to prove its authority. 68. 'The authority of the Veda, like that of the formulas, and the Ayur-veda (treatise on medicine) follows from the authority of the competent [persons from whom they proceeded]. Since the competent maker of the Veda possesses authority, i.e. inculcates truth, it results from the force of the terms that the Veda was uttered by a person of this character; and by this reasoning the au

108 If there are in all eleven formulas, and two of these are each repeated thrice, we have (2 × 3 =) six to add to the nine (which remain of the original elovcu), making (6 +9 =) fifteen. Sce Muller's Anc. Sans. Lit. pp. 89 and 393.

thority of the Veda is to be inferred. He illustrates this by the case of the formulas and the Ayur-veda. By formulas (mantra) are meant the sentences which neutralize poison, etc., and the section containing the Ayur-veda forms part of the Veda. Now as the authority of these two classes of writings is admitted by general consent, the authority of everything which possesses the characteristics of the Veda must be inferred from this example. Some, however, explain the aphorism thus: a Veda is that in which authority is found or recognised. From such vedicity (or possession of the character of a Veda) the authority of any work is to be inferred."

I add the greater part of the more detailed and distinct exposition of this aphorism given by the commentator Vätsyāyana (Bibliotheca Indica, p. 91): 109

Kim punar ayurvedasya prāmāṇyam | yad āyurvedena upadiśyate idam kṛitvā ishṭam adhigachchhati idam varjjayiṭvā 'nishṭam jahūti tasya anushṭhiyamānasya tathā - bhāvaḥ satyārthatā - 'viparyyayaḥ | mantra - padānāṁ cha visha-bhūtāśani - pratishedhārthānām prayoge 'rthasya tatha-bhāraḥ etat prāmānyam | kim-kṛilam etat | apta-prāmanya-kritam | kim punar āptānām prāmānyam | sākshāt-kṛita-dharmatā bhūta-dayā yathā-bhūtārtha-chikhyāpayishā iti | āptāḥ khalu sākshāt-kṛita-dharmāṇah idam hātavyam ayam asya hāni-hetur idam asya adhigantavyam ayam asya adhigamana-hetur iti bhūtāny anukampante | teshām khalu vai prāṇa-bhṛitām svayam anavabudhyamānānāṁ na anyad upadeśād avabodha-kāraṇam asti | na cha anavabodhe samīhā varjjanam̃ và | na vā akṛitvā svasti-bhāvaḥ | nā'py asya anyaḥ upakārako'py asti | hanta vayam ebhyo yathā-darśanam yathā-bhūtam upadiśāmaḥ | te ime śrutvā pratipadyamānāḥ heyam hasyanty adhigantavyam eva adhigamishyanti iti exam aptopadeśaḥ etena tri-vidhena āpta-prāmānyena parigrihīto 'nushṭhīyamāno 'rthasya sādhako bhavati | evam āptopadeśaḥ pramānam ram āptāḥ pramāṇam | dṛishṭārthena āptopadeśena āyurvedena adṛishtartho veda-bhago 'numātavyaḥ pramānam iti | āpta-prāmānyasya hetoḥ samānatvād iti | asya api cha eka-deso "grāma-kāmo yajeta" ity evam-ādidrishṭārthas tena anumātavyam iti | loke cha bhūyān upadeśāśrayo vyavahāraḥ | laukikasya apy upadeshṭur upadesṭavyārtha-jnānena parānujighṛikshayā yathā-bhūtārtha-chikhyāpayishayā cha prāmānyam | tat-pari109 A small portion of this comment, borrowed from Professor Banerjea's Dialogues on Hindu philosophy, was given in the 1st edition of this vol. p. 210.

grahād āptopadesah pramānam iti | drashtṛi-pravaktṛi-sāmānyāch cha anumānam ye eva āptāḥ vedārtḥānām drashṭāraḥ pravaktāras cha te eva āyurveda-prabhṛitīnām | ity āyurveda-prāmānya-vad veda-prāmānyam anumātavyam iti | nityatvād veda-vākhyānām pramānatve tat-prāmāṇyam āpta-prāmānyād ity ayuktam | śabdasya vāchakatvād artha-pratipattau pramānatvam na nityatvāt | nityatve hi sarvasya sarvena vachanāch chhabdartha-vyavastha 'nupapattiḥ | na anityatve vāchakatvam iti chet | na | laukikeshv adarśanāt | te 'pi nityāḥ iti chet | na | anāptopadeśād artha-visamvado 'nupapannaḥ | .... Manvantara-yugāntareshu cha atītānāgateshu sampradāyābhyāsa-prayogāvichhedo vedānāṁ nityatvam āptaprāmānyach cha prāmānyam | laukikeshu sabdeshu cha etat samānam |

"On what then does the authority of the Ayur-veda depend? The Ayur-veda instructs us that to do so and so, is the means of attaining what is desirable, and to avoid so and so is the means of escaping what is undesirable: and the fact of such action having been followed by the promised result coincides with the supposition that the book declares what is true. So, too, the authority of the formula for neutralizing poison, repelling demons, and arresting lightning, is shewn by their application fulfilling its object. How is this result obtained? By the authoritativeness of competent persons. But what is meant by the authoritativeness of competent persons? It means their intuitive perception of duty, their benevolence to all creatures, and their desire to declare the truth of things. Competent persons are those who have an intuitive perception of duty; and they shew their benevolence to all creatures by pointing out that so and so is to be avoided, and that such and such are the means of avoiding it, and that so and so is to be attained, and that such and such are the means of attaining it. 'For these creatures,' they reflect, 'being themselves unaware of such things, have no other means of learning them except such instruction; and in the absence of information they can make no effort either to attain or avoid anything; whilst without such action their welfare is not secured; and there is no one else who can help in this case: come let us instruct them according to the intuition we possess, and in conformity with the reality; and they hearing, and comprehending, will avoid what should be avoided, and obtain what should be obtained.' Thus the instruction afforded by competent persons according to this threefold character of their authoritativeness [viz. (1) intuition, (2)