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	<title>elisa freschiIs Vyāḍi meant when Jayanta refers to &#8220;exclusion&#8221;? &#8211; elisa freschi</title>
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	<link>https://elisafreschi.com</link>
	<description>These pages are a sort of virtual desktop of Elisa Freschi. You can find here my cv and some random thoughts on Sanskrit (and) Philosophy. All criticism welcome! Contributions are also welcome!</description>
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		<title>Is Vyāḍi meant when Jayanta refers to &#8220;exclusion&#8221;?</title>
		<link>https://elisafreschi.com/2014/04/24/is-vya%e1%b8%8di-meant-when-jayanta-refers-to-exclusion/</link>
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		<pubDate>Thu, 24 Apr 2014 09:31:05 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>elisa freschi</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[language and linguistics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mīmāṃsā]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Nyāya]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Vyākaraṇa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jayanta]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Kei Kataoka]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Vājapyāyana]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Vyāḍi]]></category>
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				<description><![CDATA[Is Jayanta referring to Vyāḍi when he lists various positions at the beginning of his discussion about the sentence-meaning, in his Nyāyamñjarī, book 5? I have discussed Vyāḍi&#8217;s position here and mentioned some basic criteria for distinguishing references to his position and to the apoha one. The first criterion is that the discussion has to [&#8230;]]]></description>
					<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Is Jayanta referring to Vyāḍi when he lists various positions at the beginning of his discussion about the sentence-meaning, in his <em>Nyāyamñjarī</em>, book 5?<span id="more-683"></span></p>
<p>I have discussed Vyāḍi&#8217;s position <a href="http://elisafreschi.com/2014/04/18/who-invented-the-apoha-theory-on-kunjunni-raja-1986/" title="Who invented the apoha theory? On Kunjunni Raja 1986" target="_blank">here</a> and mentioned some basic criteria for distinguishing references to his position and to the <em>apoha</em> one.<br />
The first criterion is that the discussion has to refer exclusion (<em>nivrtti</em>) or difference (<em>bheda</em>) as the <em>sentence</em>-meaning, since Vyāḍi was convinced that words meant individuals (<em>dravya</em>), vs. the <em>apohavadin</em>s, who maintained that exclusion is the meaning of both words and sentences. A further element in favour of the attribution to Vyāḍi could be the presence of his chief opponent in the <em>Mahābhāṣya</em>, i.e., Vājapyāyana, or his view, that words mean universals (<em>jati</em>) and sentences mean a complex (<em>samsarga</em>) of word-meanings.</p>
<p>In the case of Jayanta&#8217;s NM 5, a further element would be the presence of Vyāḍi&#8217;s view among the ones he previously discussed within the discussion about the nature of word-meaning.</p>
<p>The first two criteria are seemingly fulfilled, although the identification of No. 2 with Vājapyāyana&#8217;s position has some weak points (since Vājapyāyana&#8217;s position in regard to word meanings does not amount to direct realism) and basically depends on the identification of No. 3 with Vyāḍi&#8217;s position. As for the third criterion, the discussion about the word meaning at the beginning of NM 5 is differently shaped as that of sentence meaning, with the Naiyāyika <em>siddhānta</em> coming first and then the beginning of a general discussion about whether the words mean an individual, a universal or a configuration (<em>ākṛti</em>) (Mysore edition, pp. 5&#8211;6). The first two alternatives could refer to Vājapyāyana and Vyāḍi, but also to many other authors, since the dilemma has been a hot topic in Indian reflections about language ever after the two grammarians.</p>
<p>What are we then left with, in order to decide concerning Vyāḍi&#8217;s presence or absence in NM 5?</p>
<p>Apart from external factors, such as the presence or absence of Vyāḍi in other authors of the same era (about which Kumārila and Pārthasārathi will be very significant, see <a href="http://elisafreschi.com/2014/04/18/who-invented-the-apoha-theory-on-kunjunni-raja-1986/" title="Who invented the apoha theory? On Kunjunni Raja 1986" target="_blank">here</a> and stay tuned for further posts), we may look at Jayanta&#8217;s way of discussing it and at the sequence of the discussion of these theses in NM 5.</p>
<p>As for the latter point, the portion of NM 5 dealing with the sentence meaning is basically a discussion of the Mīmāṃsā positions on it. The other theses are dealt with briefly within the the initial discussion on what is the principal element in a sentence (in the first 11 pages of the section). The <em>apoha</em> theory is not dealt with again, possibly because Jayanta has dealt with it extensively while discussing the word meaning, at the beginning of NM 5 (see Kataoka 2008 and 2009).</p>
<p>As for the former point, at one of the last pages of NM 5, Jayanta goes back to the topic and discusses again <em>saṃsarga</em> and <em>bheda</em>. Here, the two terms are back again, and Jayanta concludes by saying that </p>
<blockquote><p>
The exclusion of all other [word meanings] is not the meaning of a word. Therefore, the meaning of a sentence is not difference (<em>anyāpohas tu na padārtha ity uktam. tasmān na bhedo vākyārthaḥ</em>, Mysore, p. 138).
</p></blockquote>
<p>Thus, he at least connects the apoha theory of word meanings with the theory of sentence-meaning as difference and refutes the latter because the former has been refuted. In this sense, what he refutes is no longer Vyāḍi&#8217;s view, given that for Vyāḍi words mean individuals and not exclusion of any other word meanings.</p>
<p><small>On Vyāḍi and <em>apoha</em>, see <a href="http://elisafreschi.com/2014/04/18/who-invented-the-apoha-theory-on-kunjunni-raja-1986/">this</a> post. On <em>apoha</em> in Jayanta, see this <a href="http://elisafreschi.blogspot.co.at/2012/04/apoha-in-dharmottara.html" target="_blank">post</a>.</small></p>
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