1.2.46
Mīmāṃsā Sūtra / Adhyāya 1 / 1.2.46
अभिधानेऽर्थवादः
abhidhāne 'rthavādaḥ
The line
Where there is naming, it is praise.
नेपालीमा
जहाँ नामकरण छ, त्यहाँ प्रशंसा हो।
Where it sits
This answers the nonexistent animal of 1.2.34 and the insentient addressees of 1.2.35. Arthavāda (अर्थवाद) from 1.2.43 is applied to abhidhāna (अभिधान), the naming. The mantra remains meaningful.
Split: abhidhāne (अभिधाने) + arthavādaḥ (अर्थवादः)
Sanskrit, in depth
The words
| Word | Grammar | Sense |
|---|---|---|
| abhidhāne (अभिधाने) | locative singular, neuter | in the naming, when the mantra names |
| arthavādaḥ (अर्थवादः) | nominative singular, masculine | praise, the figurative commendation |
The phrases
'Four horns' names what is not there as an animal. The words are figurative, and a figurative construction has a ground, whereas an unseen result of bare sound does not. The four horns are the four priestly offices. The three feet are the three pressings of the soma. The two heads are the sacrificer and his wife. The seven hands are the meters. 'Bound threefold' is bound by the three Vedas. The bull rains objects of desire. The roar is a word for sound. The great god has entered mortals, which looks to the human eligibility to perform.
Ordinary praise talks this way about a river: cakravāka-breasts (चक्रवाक-ब्रेअस्त्स्), goose-teeth, kāśa-grass (काश-ग्रस्स्) for clothes, śaivāla-weed for hair. Addressing the plant, 'O plant, protect him,' and the stones, 'hear, O stones,' is the same figure. Even the stones would hear when the morning recitation is about to begin. How much more the learned. The naming is praise. It depends on the words meaning what they figure.
Sanskrit in this line
Abhidhāna (अभिधान) is the act of naming, neuter, in the locative. Arthavādaḥ (अर्थवादः) is the predicate. Before the vowel, the final e of abhidhāne (अभिधाने) remains, and the pāṭha (पाठ) marks the following a with the avagraha.
Say it back
When the mantra says 'four horns,' give the figurative reading, and do not drop the meaning.
Next
1.2.47. A figurative quality leaves the two statements uncontradicted.