1.1.15
Vaiśeṣika Sūtra / Adhyāya 1 / 1.1.15
क्रियागुणवत् समवायिकारणमिति द्रव्यलक्षणम्
kriyāguṇavat samavāyikāraṇam iti dravyalakṣaṇam
The line
The mark of a substance is that it is the inherence-cause, the seat of action and of quality.
नेपालीमा
द्रव्यको चिह्न यो हो कि त्यो समवायिकारण हो, कर्म र गुणको आश्रय हो।
Where it sits
The three have been compared. Now each gets a definition. 1.1.16 defines quality by contrast with this. 1.1.17 defines action.
Split: kriyā-guṇavat (क्रिया-गुणवत्) + samavāyi-kāraṇam (समवायि-कारणम्) + iti (इति) + dravya-lakṣaṇam (द्रव्य-लक्षणम्)
Sanskrit, in depth
The words
| Word | Grammar | Sense |
|---|---|---|
| kriyā-guṇavat (क्रिया-गुणवत्) | nominative singular, neuter | possessing action and quality. The seat in which they reside. |
| samavāyi-kāraṇam (समवायि-कारणम्) | nominative singular, neuter | the inherence-cause. samavāya (समवाय) is inherence, the relation by which a quality or an action resides in a substance. The cause in which the effect inheres. |
| iti (इति) | indeclinable | thus. It marks the definition. |
| dravya-lakṣaṇam (द्रव्य-लक्षणम्) | nominative singular, neuter | the defining mark of substance. |
The phrases
A quality inheres in a substance. An action inheres in a substance. The substance is the cause in which they inhere. That is the mark.
The threads are the inherence-cause of the cloth, because the cloth inheres in the threads. The same relation, one step down, puts color and motion in a substance. The line uses the relation as the definition.
Sanskrit in this line
lakṣaṇa (लक्षण) is the mark by which you know a thing, the same word Jaimini uses when he says dharma (धर्म)'s mark is injunction. iti here means 'this is the definition,' not only 'end of a list.'
Say it back
In one sentence: a substance is the cause of what kind, for which two things?