Structure of Pārthasārathi's argument on action

I have already noted that Frauwallner's critique of Pārthasārathi may have been a little bit ungenerous insofar as Frauwallner seems to overlook the siddhāntin/pūrvapakṣin distinction in the Śāstradīpikā text about bhāvanā (ad 2.1.1, bhāvārthādhikaraṇa, pp.129-131 of the 1978 edition). Frauwallner may have overlooked it because Pārthasārathi is often (so also in his Nyāyaratnamālā) extremely cautious in marking the end of a pūrvapakṣa, so that it is often quite difficult to distinguish his own opinion.

In the following, the numeration follows Pārthasārathi's first enunciation of the themes. Point 1 clearly enunciates the pūrvapakṣa and point 10 the siddhānta. But where does the siddhānta start?

1. Pārthasārathi starts with a pūrvapakṣa stating that the bhāvanā is not distinct from the meaning of the verbal root (satyaṃ na dhātvārthātirekiṇī bhāvanā).

2. In fact, the meaning of the verbal root has two components: one which is not an action and has an established nature (dhātvārthānām eva tu dve rūpe […] ekam akriyātmakaṃ siddhasvabhāvam) and another one which is an action and has still to be realised (aparaṃ tu […] kriyātmakaṃ sādhyasvabhāvam).

3. The latter can be expressed by 'karoti' (he does), is present in all verbal roots and expressed by the verbal ending (sarvadhātvarthānuyāyi karotipratyayavedyaṃ […] ākhyātābhidheyam) (tac cākhyāteṣv avagamyamānatvāt tadabhāve pākādāv anavagamād ākhyātābhidheyam āśrīyate) (tac ca sarvadhātvarthānām astīti sarvavyāpy eva bhāvanārūpam).

4. Further, it is favourable to the production of something else. This means that it leads to the production of something else beside the action (which is itself to be realised), although it is not tantamount to the production of something else –which would be an external act, not the inner disposition towards it– (anyotpādānukūlātmakam) (tac ca rūpam utpādyavastvantarakarmakam eva sarvadā pratīyate) (ato yadavastho yāgaḥ svargaṃ sampādayati tadavastho yāgo yena vyāpāreṇa sampadyate sa vyāpāraḥ svargakṛtir ity evaṃrūpeṇākhyāyābhidheyo bhavati).

5. It also entails an actor (tad eva ca bhavituḥ prayojakavyāpāro bhāvanety ucyate).

6. It is not tantamount to effort, nor to movement, not to both (ye 'pi prayatnaṃ bhāvanām āhuḥ, ye ca spandaṃ, ye cobhayaṃ, te 'pi na svarūpeṇa teṣāṃ bhāvanātvam āhuḥ, kintv anyotpādānukūlatvarūpam).

7. To that, the meaning of the verbal root is connected either as an object (e.g. "he does cooking") or as an instrument (e.g. "through cooking she does a rice-cake") (tasmiṃś ca kriyārūpe prakṛtyupātto yāgādiḥ kadācit karmatvena saṃbadhyate pākaṃ karoti yāgaṃ karotīti, kadācit karaṇatvena yāgena svargaṃ karoti pākenaudanam iti yathāvivakṣitam).

7.1 The meaning of the verbal ending also varies, depending on how the meaning of the verbal root is connected to it (tad yadā yāgādeḥ karmatvena saṅgatis tadā karmabhūtaḥ prayatnaḥ saṅkalpādir vā dhātvantarārtho 'pi yajetety atra pade yāgakṛtir ity evaṃrūpeṇākhyātābhidheyatāṃ bhajate. saṅkalpādikaṃ tu viśeṣarūpaṃ dhātvantarābhidheyaṃ pramāṇāntaravedyaṃ nākhyātena spṛśyate. yadā tu vidhivaśāt karaṇatvena yāgasya saṅgatiḥ, karmatvaṃ tu svargāder darśapūrḅamāsayāgena svargaṃ kuryād iti, tadā na yāgasya hetubhūtaiva kṛtir ākhyātenocyate, yāgasya karmatvābhāvāt, phalasyaiva karmatvāt tatkarmikā kṛtir ākhyātenocyate, yāgas tu karaṇam).

8. The verbal ending does not express the specific form of the action (tasyāpi vyāpārasya viśeṣarūpaṃ pramāṇāntaravedyaṃ nākhyātena spṛśyate).

9. The bhāvanā conveyed by a Vedic injunction stands in need of a further element, the procedure conveyed by nearby textual passages (vyāpāraviśeṣātmakakathaṃbhāvāpekṣāyām agnyanvādhānaprayājāvaghātādibhir upakārasampādanaṃ śāstrāntarair avagamyate, yāgasvarūpasya ca sampādanam arthapāttyā).

9.1 The procedure is instrumental to the action (which is instrumental to the arousal of the result), just like raising and sinking the axe is instrumental to chopping a wood-log into two (etad eva hi karaṇanām [so in the ed., I would emend into karaṇānāṃ] karaṇatvaṃ yaduta phaloddeśapravṛttakartṛvyāpāreṇa phalasādhanātmanā sampattiḥ, paraśor ivodyamananipatanābhyāṃ dvaidhībhāvasādhanatayā).

10. "the bhāvanā realised through these [procedure] is distinct from the meaning of the verbal root" (tat siddhā dhātvarthātiriktā bhāvanā).