Shat Padartha: 6 Components
By Prof. Vd. Rangaprasad Bhat
The six padArthAs are:
dravya (substance), guNA (quality), karma (action),
SAmAnya (association),
visheSha (difference) and
samavAya (inheritance, inseparable relation).
Dravya, guNA and karma are padArthAs that belong to the category of “sat” or being.
सामान्यं च विशेषं च गुणान्द्रव्याणि कर्म च ||
समवायं तज्ज्ञात्वा तन्त्रोक्तं विधिमास्थिता: || च.सू .१/९ ||
द्रव्यगुणकर्मसामान्यविशेषसमवायानां षण्णां पदार्थानां साधर्म्य वैधर्म्य तत्त्वज्ञानं नि:श्रेयसहेतु: | तच्चेश्चरचोदनाभिव्यक्ताद् घर्मादेव || – प्रश्स्तपदा: ||
We can demonstrate their existence but not of the other four padArthAs. Dravya can also be shown in its gross form, but qualities like jnAna, desire, happiness, sorrow, etc, cannot be shown as independent entities.
Redness is the quality of, say, the lotus flower. It cannot be separated from that flower. That on which the redness (guNA) is dependent is dravya (lotus). And, though qualities like happiness and sorrow cannot be “shown”, we can assume whether a person is happy or sad: we “see” in his face showing happiness or sorrow.
The “work” such as movement, running, is known as karma and it is also dependent on dravya. When a man runs, his “running” cannot be separated from him. But we do see him running and know that he is not sitting or lying down. That means we “see” the action of running.
SAmAnya is the fourth padArtha and it means “collectivity” (“as in species”). For example when we see a herd of cows the common physical traits of them gives the jnana about cows.
When, the objects or individuals though having a major proportion of common traits, if exhibits certain small differences of traits which gets visibly percieved, they are known as “visheSha”. For example in a herd of cows, one will be able to identify the Desi cows from the Jesry cows with due observation from the characteristic traits of the two species of cows.
The quality of a substance cannot be separated from it (the substance), nor the work / karma associated with it. Such a state is known as “samavAya”. The parts of a whole object cannot be separated if it is still to remain the object that we know it to be. Here we have samavAya, the quality inhering in something. Fire has a radiant form, but the radiance cannot be separated from it, since radiance is in samvaya with the agni. When one dravya combines with another dravya there occurs “samyoga. The guNA and the karma cannot be separated from the dravya.
वृद्धि: सामानै सर्वेषां विपरीतै विपर्यय: || A. Hrudaya
The SAmAnya and visheSha siddhAnta hold importance in Ayurveda which is more commonly applied in the treatment protocols and the dietary advices for any given diseased state of mind and physique.
Prof.Vd.A.Rangaprasad Bhat
drrangaprasadbhat@gmail.com
Padmanilayam”, (Ayurveda & Non Conventional Marma Chikitsa Clinic) 49/46, Kanagaraya Malaiyappan St, Raja Annamalaipuram, Mandavelipakkam, Chennai- 600028.
