1.3.24
Mīmāṃsā Sūtra / Adhyāya 1 / 1.3.24
प्रयोगोत्पत्त्यशास्त्रत्वाच् छब्देषु न व्यवस्था स्यात्
prayogotpattyaśāstratvāc chabdeṣu na vyavasthā syāt
The line
There would be no fixed distinction among words, because there is no text governing how usage begins.
नेपालीमा
शब्दहरूमा अडिएको भेद हुनेछैन, किनकि प्रयोगको सुरु कसरी हुन्छ भन्ने पाठ छैन।
Where it sits
This is a new question. The word whose meaning was fixed in 1.3.9 is now asked in another way: which sound-form is the word. na vyavasthā (व्यवस्था) is the first view. The decision begins with the next line.
Split: prayoga-utpatti-aśāstratvāt (प्रयोग-उत्पत्ति-अशास्त्रत्वात्) + śabdeṣu (शब्देषु) + na (न) + vyavasthā (व्यवस्था) + syāt (स्यात्)
Sanskrit, in depth
The words
| Word | Grammar | Sense |
|---|---|---|
| prayoga-utpatti-aśāstratvāt (प्रयोग-उत्पत्ति-अशास्त्रत्वात्) | ablative singular, neuter | because there is no text for the origin of usage |
| śabdeṣu (शब्देषु) | locative plural, masculine | among words |
| na (न) | indeclinable | not |
| vyavasthā (व्यवस्था) | nominative singular, feminine | a fixed distinction |
| syāt (स्यात्) | third person singular, optative, of the verb as | there would be |
The phrases
The examples are go, gāvī (गावी), goṇī (गोणी), and gopotalikā (गोपोतलिका). go is a means of knowing the animal with the dewlap. The doubt is whether gāvī (गावी) and the rest are the same, or whether all of them are correct and beginningless.
The first view says all of them. A hearer understands the dewlap-bearing animal from gāvī (गावी) too. The connection would then run back without a start. There is no text that governs how a usage begins. hasta, kara, and pāṇi (पाणि) are all said for the hand. The words are uttered for the meaning, not for an unseen result. So no one form is fixed as the only correct word.
Sanskrit in this line
The pāṭha (पाठ) writes prayogotpatyaśāstratvāc (प्रयोगोत्पत्यशास्त्रत्वाच्) with one t. The stem is utpatti. Before aśāstratvāt (अशास्त्रत्वात्) the i becomes ya and the double t stays, prayogotpattyaśāstratvāt (प्रयोगोत्पत्त्यशास्त्रत्वात्). Before śabdeṣu (शब्देषु) the final t is heard as c, and ś (श्) as ch.
Say it back
List go, gāvī (गावी), goṇī (गोणी), and gopotalikā (गोपोतलिका), and say the first view counts every one as a correct word.
Next
1.3.25. A word is made by effort, so the speaker can miss it.