More than one cause at once: Veṅkaṭanātha on sacrifices and other causes UPDATED

elisa freschi — Mon, 14 Oct 2013 13:39:12 +0000

What if one offers a Citrā sacrifices, but does not obtain the promised cattle? And what if one after the sacrifice does obtain some cattle, but only because one has received it as a gift? Veṅkaṭanātha, in his Seśvaramīmāṃsā (ad Mīmāṃsāsūtra 1.1.5) explains that the sacrifice remains nonetheless the cause, because there is nothing wrong in having more than one cause, “like in the case of food in the case of [the injunction] ‘If you want to appease hunger, go at Devadatta’s house'”. The context seems clear (the injunction is not enough, food is an assisting cause), but the Sanskrit has a word I cannot make sense of:

kṣucchāntikāmo devadattagṛhaṃ gacched ity atra bhojanādivat

What does kṣucchānti mean? It is found in both editions of the Seśvaramīmāṃsā and in other two works by Veṅkaṭanātha, i.e., in his Nyāyapariśuddhi (again in the context of eating) and in the Pāñcarātrarakṣā (where Veṅkaṭanātha speaks of kṣucchāntikarakarmasamādhi).

UPDATE: I am indebted to Andrew (see below) for suggesting the right reading, i.e., kṣudh (hunger)–śānti (appeasing)–kāma (desirous of).

You can read a lot of posts on Veṅkaṭanātha/Vedānta Deśika on my previous blog, starting from here.

elisa freschiMore than one cause at once: Veṅkaṭanātha on sacrifices and other causes UPDATED – elisa freschi

More than one cause at once: Veṅkaṭanātha on sacrifices and other causes UPDATED