1.2.13
Nyāya Sūtra / Adhyāya 1 / 1.2.13
सम्भवतोऽर्थस्यातिसामान्ययोगादसम्भूतार्थकल्पना सामान्यच्छलम्
sambhavato 'rthasyātisāmānyayogād asambhūtārthakalpanā sāmānyacchalam
The line
Quibble on a general term is the imagining of an impossible meaning, by connecting a possible meaning with an overly wide generality.
नेपालीमा
सामान्य पदको छल सम्भव अर्थलाई अति फराकिलो सामान्यसँग जोडेर असम्भव अर्थ कल्पना गर्नु हो।
Where it sits
sāmānyacchala (सामान्यच्छल) from 1.2.11 is the kind being defined. kalpanā (कल्पना) continues the pattern of 1.2.12, but the route is atisāmānya (अतिसामान्य), not a second dictionary sense.
Split: sambhavataḥ (सम्भवतः) + arthasya (अर्थस्य) + atisāmānya-yogāt (अतिसामान्य-योगात्) + asambhūta-artha-kalpanā (असम्भूत-अर्थ-कल्पना) + sāmānya-chalam (सामान्य-छलम्)
Sanskrit, in depth
The words
| Word | Grammar | Sense |
|---|---|---|
| sambhavataḥ (सम्भवतः) | genitive singular, neuter | of one that is possible |
| arthasya (अर्थस्य) | genitive singular, neuter | of a meaning |
| atisāmānya-yogāt (अतिसामान्य-योगात्) | ablative singular, masculine | from connection with an excessive generality |
| asambhūta-artha-kalpanā (असम्भूत-अर्थ-कल्पना) | nominative singular, feminine | the imagining of a meaning that cannot obtain |
| sāmānya-chalam (सामान्य-छलम्) | nominative singular, neuter | quibble on a general term |
The phrases
Here the words have a possible sense, sambhavat artha. Someone says that a particular brahmin is learned. That is possible. The quibble yokes the remark to an atisāmānya (अतिसामान्य), a generality taken too wide, as if learning were being asserted of brahmins as a class.
From that yoke one imagines an asambhūta (असम्भूत) artha, a meaning that cannot be, such as the learning of a brahmin who is in fact unlearned. The statement is blocked by that impossible widening. This is sāmānyacchala (सामान्यच्छल). The play is on the general term, not on two lexical senses of one word.
Sanskrit in this line
sambhavataḥ (सम्भवतः) agrees with arthasya. Both are genitive singular neuter. The participle looks like an ablative, but the phrase is genitive. sambhavataḥ (सम्भवतः) before arthasya is recited sambhavato 'rthasya. arthasya plus atisāmānya (अतिसामान्य) is arthasyāti (अर्थस्याति). yogāt (योगात्) before a vowel is yogād (योगाद्).
Say it back
Keep vākchala (वाक्छल) and sāmānyacchala (सामान्यच्छल) apart: one trades on an unspecified word, the other on a generality taken too far.