1.1.5
Vaiśeṣika Sūtra / Adhyāya 1 / 1.1.5
पृथिव्यापस् तेजो वायुराकाशं कालो दिगात्मा मन इति द्रव्याणि
pṛthivy āpas tejo vāyur ākāśaṃ kālo dig ātmā mana iti dravyāṇi
The line
Earth, water, fire, air, ether, time, direction, self, and mind: these are the substances.
नेपालीमा
पृथ्वी, जल, तेज, वायु, आकाश, काल, दिशा, आत्मा र मन यी द्रव्य हुन्।
Where it sits
1.1.4 named substance as the first category. This line opens it. Sāṅkhya (साङ्ख्य)'s prakṛti (प्रकृति) is not on this list, and Sāṅkhya (साङ्ख्य)'s puruṣa (पुरुष) is not quite this ātmā (आत्मा). The self here has qualities, desire and pain among them. The Sāṅkhya (साङ्ख्य) person has none. That disagreement is real. Do not blend the two selves because both are called the seer in English.
Split: pṛthivī (पृथिवी) + āpaḥ (आपः) + tejaḥ (तेजः) + vāyuḥ (वायुः) + ākāśam (आकाशम्) + kālaḥ (कालः) + dik (दिक्) + ātmā (आत्मा) + manaḥ (मनः) + iti (इति) + dravyāṇi (द्रव्याणि)
Sanskrit, in depth
The words
| Word | Grammar | Sense |
|---|---|---|
| pṛthivī (पृथिवी) | nominative singular, feminine | earth. |
| āpaḥ (आपः) | nominative plural, feminine | waters. The word is plural in Sanskrit. |
| tejaḥ (तेजः) | nominative singular, neuter | fire, brightness. |
| vāyuḥ (वायुः) | nominative singular, masculine | air. |
| ākāśam (आकाशम्) | nominative singular, neuter | ether, the open that sound needs. |
| kālaḥ (कालः) | nominative singular, masculine | time. |
| dik (दिक्) | nominative singular, feminine | direction, space as the quarters. |
| ātmā (आत्मा) | nominative singular, masculine | the self. A substance, not a bundle of thoughts. |
| manaḥ (मनः) | nominative singular, neuter | mind. In this school, an atom-sized substance, one in each body, not a sense among the ten. |
| iti (इति) | indeclinable | thus. It closes the list. |
| dravyāṇi (द्रव्याणि) | nominative plural, neuter | are the substances. The predicate. |
The phrases
Nine names, then iti, then the word that classifies them. iti means the list is finished and what follows names the list.
The first four are the ones that will be made of atoms. Ether, time, and direction are one each, and pervasive. The self is a substance and is many. Mind is a substance and is small. Those claims are argued later. This line only counts.
Sanskrit in this line
iti after a list means 'end of list,' and the predicate follows. The names keep their own genders. dravyāṇi (द्रव्याणि) is neuter plural and does not force the names to become neuter. In 'these are substances,' the predicate has its own gender.
Say it back
Nine substances. The last two are the ones a reader of Sāṅkhya (साङ्ख्य) will want to translate too quickly. Say what this school claims they are.
Next
1.1.6. Seventeen qualities, and not the later list of twenty-four.