Classical Vaisesika in Indian Philosophy

On Knowing and What is to Be Known

ShashiPrabha Kumar

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• eBook ISBN: 9781135071097
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Politics
• Index: Politics & International Relations

Vaisesika is one of the six systems of Hindu philosophy. It represents a pluralistic realism and is usually held to be an atomistic, metaphysical theory. This book explores the basic tenets of the Vaisesika classical school of Indian philosophy from a new perspective. It argues that it reveals an epistemological formulation of its own, which was diminished due to later developments in the history of Indian philosophical tradition.

Focusing on the principles of knowable objects and the processes of knowing as propounded by the Vaisesika school of Indian Philosophy, the book offers a fuller appreciation of the theories. Providing a balanced approach by examining earliest available material in the original sources of Vaisesika and concentrating on the epistemological pattern adopted therein, it presents an authentic and comprehensive understanding of Vaisesika concepts. This is the first introductory sourcebook in English for the authentic study of Vaisesika, and is of use to students and scholars of World Religion and Philosophy.

1 Introduction

Vaiśeṣika is one of the six orthodox (having faith in Veda/verbal testimony) systems of Hindu philosophy which derives its name from ‘viśeṣa’,¹ a category representing the ultimate individuality of innumerable objects of the universe. The school holds an important position among other streams of Indian philosophical tradition, because it upholds the individual identities of selves (ātmans), minds (manas) and the atoms (paramāṇus). The basic significance of Vaiśeṣika lies in the fact that it begins with an analysis of the physical world around us and focuses on the commonsense experience of ordinary mortals. Almost all other schools of Indian philosophy aim at liberation, either from the cycle of rebirth or from all sorts of suffering; but the system of Vaiśeṣika is unique in the sense that although it does posit an ultimate goal of life, it begins with a premise to first know and explicate the variety of the visible world rather than negate it or escape from it: ‘this philosophy owes its origin to a purely theoretical attitude of mind and not to that craze for liberation which dominates nearly all forms of Indian thought’.²

Vaiśeṣika is held to be founded by Kaṇāda, a sage who was believed to be so engrossed in his search for reality that he did not even care for his food and lived by eating minute particles of grain (kaṇas)³ only. He asserts that the world is constituted by six categories (padārthas): substance (dravya), attribute (guṇa), activity (karma), universal (sāmānya), particularity (viśeṣa) and inherence (samavāya).⁴ A seventh category, negation (abhāva) was added to the list by later scholars of Vaiśeṣika, and it was proclaimed that nothing remains outside of these six or seven categories. As regards the common criteria among the categories, Praśastapāda, the earliest available commentator of Vaiśeṣika, has stated that existence (astitva), nameability (abhidheyatva) and knowability (jñeyatva) are the three common characteristics available amongst the six categories.⁵

It is interesting to note that later scholars of the Vaiśeṣika school have mentioned any one of these three features as the main criterion of the six categories (padārthas). For example, Udayana⁶ and Annambhatta⁷ emphasise communicability (abhidheyatva) as a common feature among the categories while Śivāditya⁸ highlights knowability (jñeyatva or pramiti-viṣayatva) as the one and only characteristic. However, on closer analysis it becomes clear that all the three features have an internal coherence which is manifested only when they are taken collectively rather than individually. In fact one of the modern Vaiśeṣika scholars has demonstrated their inner continuity and proved that these features not only exhibit three aspects of reality but also demonstrate the philosophical aptitude of Vaiśeṣika.⁹

In Indian philosophical tradition, the Vaiśeṣika is known as the ‘Padārthaśāstra’, i.e. the science of the ‘arthas’ or reals, which are indicated by ‘padas’ or the inflected words. Accordingly, the lexical meaning of padārtha denotes its literal, derivative sense as a ‘meaning of the word’ (artha + pada). The Chinese interpreter of the text ‘Daśapadārthī’ has illustrated this derivation of padārtha as follows:

The term padārtha (category) has been etymologically rendered into Chinese. The translation is literally ‘the meaning or object of a word.’ Kwehi-ci explains, pada means a footstep. Just as a man seeks an elephant by tracing his footsteps, we understand the meaning by pada because pada is the footstep of the meaning.

(Ui 1962, p. 121)

The Vaiśeṣika maintains that all the knowable and communicable objects of the world have been covered under these six or seven categories. However, in the earlier tradition of the school, there seems to be a divergence of opinion regarding the exact number of categories. Although Kanāda has explicitly mentioned only six, there are scholars who hold that the Vaiśeṣika aphorism (sūtra) containing a list of six categories is itself an interpolation.¹⁰ According to them, Kanāda actually seems to hold only three categories as ontologically real because he talks of substance, attribute and activity as ‘artha’¹¹ while it was Praśastapada who, for the first time mentioned these six as categories or padārthas.¹² This view has gained further ground with the publication of two commentaries of Vaiśeṣikasūtras, Avijñātakartṛkavyākhyā’¹³ and Candrānanda Vṛtti,¹⁴ neither of which contain the above aphorism. However, unless further textual evidence between the works of Kanāda and Praśastapāda is available, we are not in a position to say anything decisively in this regard.

At least one of the modern Western exponents¹⁵ of Vaiśeṣika has tried to outline a gradual and conceptual development of the theory of seven categories. There have also been different views regarding the exact number of categories outside the tradition of Vaiśeṣika, but within the tradition of Indian philosophy; this has been recorded in several texts of Vaiśeṣika itself in the form of opponents’ views, i.e. pūrvapakṣa, and rejected thereafter.¹⁶

In brief, after projecting and rejecting several views in this regard, the Vaiśeṣika has finally upheld the theory of seven categories and proved its claim that the whole variety of the visible world has been explained under these seven types of reals. As Whitehead asserted: ‘The Vaiśeṣika attempts to exhibit in one system the characters and interrelations of all that is observed.’¹⁷

Nomenclature of Vaiśeṣika

The school of Vaiśeṣika is variously expressed such as ‘Kāṇāda’,¹⁸ ‘Kāśyapīya’,¹⁹ ‘Aulūkya’,²⁰ ‘Pailuka’²¹ and of course the popularly known ‘Vaiśeṣika’²² in the ancient Sanskrit sources. The last term occurs only once in the treatise of Kanāda,²³ where it reflects a sense of a differentiating factor rather than the title of the school. It is not without reason, then, that Udayana, the author of Kiraṇāvalī, derives the word Vaiśeṣika from the term ‘viśeṣa’, meaning ascertainment of the characteristics of entities (tattvaniścaya) or distinguishing factor (vyavaccheda).²⁴ A...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• Abbreviations
• 1. Introduction
• 2. Theme of knowing in Vaiśesika: dharma
• 3. Objects of knowing (padārthas)
• 4. Methods of knowing (sādharmya and vaidharmya)
• 5. Modes and means of knowing (jñāna-prakāra and pramānas)
• 6. Agent of knowing (ātman)
• 7. Abode and faculties of knowing (śarīra and indriyas)
• 8. Instrument of knowing (manas)
• 9. Goal of knowing (nihsreyasa)
• 10. An overview
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index