1.2.40
Mīmāṃsā Sūtra / Adhyāya 1 / 1.2.40
अविशिष्टस् तु वाक्यार्थः
aviśiṣṭas tu vākyārthaḥ
The line
But the sentence-meaning is not of a different kind.
नेपालीमा
तर वाक्यार्थ अर्कै प्रकारको होइन।
Where it sits
Vākyārtha (वाक्यार्थ) carries forward the account of sentence-meaning from 1.1.25. Tu answers the charge that has run since 1.2.31. The mantra is now granted a meaning of the ordinary sentential sort.
Split: aviśiṣṭaḥ (अविशिष्टः) + tu (तु) + vākya-arthaḥ (वाक्य-अर्थः)
Sanskrit, in depth
The words
| Word | Grammar | Sense |
|---|---|---|
| aviśiṣṭaḥ (अविशिष्टः) | nominative singular, masculine | not distinguished, not of a special kind |
| tu (तु) | indeclinable | but |
| vākya-arthaḥ (वाक्य-अर्थः) | nominative singular, masculine | the meaning of the sentence |
The phrases
Tu turns the view. The meaning of the words is not one thing in the world and another thing in the Veda. As the meaning is intended in ordinary speech, so it is to be intended here.
The objector says ordinary speech transacts with meanings people understand, whereas talk with unseen deities and with insentient implements does not help a sacrifice. An unseen result, he says, could come from the utterance alone. The reply is that the mantra is uttered in the sacrifice in order to convey the meaning. One cannot complete an offering if the offering and its parts have not been made known. Making them known is a help one can see. It is not cancelled by saying the help is invisible. The sentence-meaning of a mantra is not a strange second kind of meaning.
Sanskrit in this line
Aviśiṣṭaḥ (अविशिष्टः) agrees with vākyārthaḥ (वाक्यार्थः). Viśiṣṭa (विशिष्ट) would mean distinguished, special. The negation says the Vedic sentence is not exempt from meaning.
Say it back
Say that a mantra means by its sentence, and that making the offering known is the help.
Next
1.2.41. The repeated sentence states the taking as qualified by the number four.