2.2.1
Nyāya Sūtra / Adhyāya 2 / 2.2.1
न चतुष्ट्वम्, ऐतिह्यार्थापत्तिसम्भवाभावप्रामाण्यात्
na catuṣṭvam, aitihyārthāpattisambhavābhāvaprāmāṇyāt
The line
The means are not four, because tradition, postulation, inclusion, and absence are also means of knowing.
नेपालीमा
जान्ने साधन चार होइनन्, किनकि ऐतिह्य, अर्थापत्ति, सम्भव र अभाव पनि जान्ने साधन हुन्।
Where it sits
1.1.3 stated the four. Adhyāya (अध्याय) 2 has been examining them. This line opens a new objection against the count. The words of 2.1.69, on mantra and medicine, are not carried in. The answer is the next line.
Split: na (न) + catuṣṭvam (चतुष्ट्वम्) + aitihya-arthāpatti-sambhava-abhāva-prāmāṇyāt (ऐतिह्य-अर्थापत्ति-सम्भव-अभाव-प्रामाण्यात्)
Sanskrit, in depth
The words
| Word | Grammar | Sense |
|---|---|---|
| na (न) | indeclinable | not |
| catuṣṭvam (चतुष्ट्वम्) | nominative singular, neuter | fourfoldness. The state of being four. The four are perception, inference, comparison, and word, from 1.1.3. |
| aitihya-arthāpatti-sambhava-abhāva-prāmāṇyāt (ऐतिह्य-अर्थापत्ति-सम्भव-अभाव-प्रामाण्यात्) | ablative singular, neuter | because tradition, postulation, inclusion, and absence have the status of a means. Read it from the end. prāmāṇya (प्रामाण्य) is the state of being a pramāṇa (प्रमाण). |
The phrases
This is the objection. na catuṣṭvam (न चतुष्ट्वम्) says the count of four does not hold. The long ablative is the reason.
aitihya (ऐतिह्य) is 'they say,' a report with no reliable person named. arthāpatti (अर्थापत्ति) is a fact supposed because the facts in hand would not stand otherwise. sambhava (सम्भव) is inclusion, knowing a smaller number because it sits inside a larger one. abhāva (अभाव) is absence, knowing that a thing is not there.
The four names are one dvandva. Only prāmāṇyāt (प्रामाण्यात्) wears the case.
Sanskrit in this line
The file writes the reason as one string, aitihyārthāpattisambhavābhāvaprāmāṇyāt (ऐतिह्यार्थापत्तिसम्भवाभावप्रामाण्यात्), and puts a comma after catuṣṭvam (चतुष्ट्वम्). aitihya (ऐतिह्य) + arthāpatti (अर्थापत्ति) is aitihyārthāpatti (ऐतिह्यार्थापत्ति), because a (अ) + a (अ) = ā (आ). sambhava (सम्भव) + abhāva (अभाव) joins the same way. The hyphens in the split are teaching marks.
Say it back
Name the four means the objection wants to add, in the order of the compound.