1.4.8
Brahma Sūtra / Adhyāya 1 / 1.4.8
चमसवदविशेषात्
camasavad aviśeṣāt
The line
It is not the pradhāna (प्रधान), for want of a special mark, as with the cup.
नेपालीमा
यो प्रधान होइन, विशेष चिह्न नभएकाले, प्यालाजस्तै।
Where it sits
A new passage, the unborn of three colors. The pradhāna (प्रधान) is still the rival. The three Vedānta (वेदान्त) readings agree she is not the independent pradhāna (प्रधान). They differ later, at 1.4.23, on whether Brahman (ब्रह्मन्) is the stuff of the world. This line only removes the Sāṃkhya (सांख्य) claim.
Split: camasa-vat (चमस-वत्) + aviśeṣāt (अविशेषात्)
Sanskrit, in depth
The words
| Word | Grammar | Sense |
|---|---|---|
| camasa-vat (चमस-वत्) | indeclinable | like the cup |
| aviśeṣāt (अविशेषात्) | ablative singular, masculine | because there is no distinguishing mark |
The phrases
The passage is the Śvetāśvatara (श्वेताश्वतर)'s one unborn, red, white, and black, producing many offspring of her own likeness. The objector says the unborn is the pradhāna (प्रधान), and the three colors are the three strands.
aviśeṣa (अविशेष): the verse by itself does not mark that. A cup in the Bṛhadāraṇyaka (बृहदारण्यक) is described with its mouth below, and no one can tell from that verse alone which cup. A further sentence decides it. So here. camasavat: like the cup. The three colors do not force the strands.
Sanskrit in this line
The pāṭha (पाठ) writes camasavadaviśeṣāt (चमसवदविशेषात्) as one string. Split camasa-vat from aviśeṣāt (अविशेषात्). -vat is indeclinable. Before a vowel, t becomes d: camasavad aviśeṣāt (अविशेषात्).
Say it back
Say the cup's lesson: a verse with a number of parts still needs another sentence to fix its meaning.
Next
1.4.9. Some recite the three colors as beginning with light, which is the elements, not the strands.