1.4.21
Mīmāṃsā Sūtra / Adhyāya 1 / 1.4.21
कारणं स्यादिति चेत्
kāraṇaṃ syād iti cet
The line
If you say the number could be a cause of a desired result, that is the objection.
नेपालीमा
यदि सङ्ख्या इच्छित फलको कारण हुन सक्छ भन्छौ भने, त्यो आक्षेप हो।
Where it sits
iti cet tests the praise-reading of 1.4.18 and 1.4.20. kāraṇam (कारणम्) would be the eight as causing sacred lustre. The Vaiśvānara (वैश्वानर) passage is still the text. The next line refuses the split into wish-injunctions.
Split: kāraṇam (कारणम्) + syāt (स्यात्) + iti (इति) + cet (चेत्)
Sanskrit, in depth
The words
| Word | Grammar | Sense |
|---|---|---|
| kāraṇam (कारणम्) | nominative singular, neuter | a cause |
| syāt (स्यात्) | third person singular, optative, of the verb as | it would be |
| iti (इति) | indeclinable | thus |
| cet (चेत्) | indeclinable | if |
The phrases
If you say the lines are praise, why is sacred lustre not the cause that the eight serves? The eight-potsherd cake would be for the man who wants sacred lustre, and the later numbers would follow the wish that fits each.
Then the lines would not be useless, and one would not need a secondary praise of the twelve. The wishes would be the injunctions.
Sanskrit in this line
kāraṇam (कारणम्) before syāt (स्यात्) is heard as kāraṇaṃ (कारणं), and syāt (स्यात्) before iti as syād (स्याद्). The line is only the objection. It has no na.
Say it back
State the try: eight potsherds for the man who wants sacred lustre, as a separate injunction.