Charaka-Samhita — trans. Kaviraj Avinash Chandra Kaviratna

The Rishis understood this to some extent. Sound, touch, form, taste, and' scent are perceivable by the ear, skin, eye, tongue and nose. Ether (or space), according to the Rishis, is perceivable by touch, for the property of ether being non-resistibility, the latter is absence of touch. Thus all the primal elements, with their attributes, are perceivable by the organ of touch. — T.

t The first line of this verse has been misunderstood by the Bengali translators. The substances to which ‘ Gunas ’ or attributes inhere are called ‘ Gunins ’ (substances). The ‘ Gunins ’ or substances are, of course, the primal elements, viz., ether and the rest. The body consists of the five primal elements. The attributes or properties of these primal elements existing in the body have been mentioned in Lesson XXVI, ante , of Sutrasthana, called Atreya-Bhadrakapyiya. There the attributes are regarded as indications of the presence of the primal elements in the Body. It may be further explained that two sets of attributes, vis., sound and the rest, and heavy, rough, and the rest, have been mentioned as inhering to the primal elements as they exist in the Body. As regards sound and the rest, they are both subjective and objective. In their subjective forms, they are the causes or sources from which the senses have flowed. In their

CHAR AKA SAM HIT A.

That knowledge which arises from a particular organ of sense comes to be called after that particular organ.

Similarly, that knowledge which springs from mind is called after the mind.*3'

The knowledge (of which we speak) arises from a contact of Self and mind with each of the senses and objects.

In consequence of the variety of actions and sensuous objects,, knowledge has been regarded to be of various kinds. 38.

As the sound arising from contact of the chords, the gourded' bamboo, and the nails, is seen to be of various kinds according as; it is originated by the tips of the thumbs and the other fingers, so is; knowledge seen (to be various) according as it arises from the con¬ tact of self and mind with the different senses and the senseous objects.ssf objective forms, however, they are cognisable by the senses. This is explained' in the second line : sound and the rest, (that is, sound and the rest in their objective forms), are the ‘ Arthas ’ of the senses, that is, the objects or topics perceived by them. They are also called ‘ Gochara ’ (lit. moving before, that is, exposed or manifested for apprehension). They are also caled ‘ Vishayas,?' implying ‘ objects that bind or attract the senses. They are, in addition, called; ‘ Gunas,’ i. e., properties or qualities. — T.

* It seems that the word ‘ Buddhi ’ is used here in a very wide sense. I have rendered it ‘ knowledge.1 Probably, ‘ idea ’ or ‘ notion,’ in the sense of *• concept r is what is implied. A particular concept arises through the aid of the visual organ. It is to be called a visual concept. Another arises through the aid of the ear. It is to be called an audible concept. So, concepts arise through the mind also, — the mind, that is, taken as a sixth sense, or, rather, as the chief that controls the five senses and imbibes the impressions they impart. By a mental concept would, probably, be meant one that is due to comparison or reasoning. The. knowledge or concept of greenness, as derived from the eye, is a visual concept. So also that of grass. The knowledge, however, that grass is green would be a mental concept. — T.

t The illustration used by the KishI In the 39th couplet is an exceedingly beautiful one. The Vina is an instrument consisting of a bamboo of about a yard and a half in length, with two hollow gourds attached to the two extremities. On the bamboo are many wires ; cross-wise are many frets. Different notes are produced as the different frets are touched with the fingers of the left hand. On the fingers of the right hand are 3 or 4 plectra. On the one side are self and the mind. On the other are the senses and their objects. In . consequence of

CHARARA SAMHITA.

Knowledge, sense, mind, and objects, are linked with one another in due order.*40

This aggregate of four and twenty is called Purusha. f41

Purusha is linked with the qualities of Rajas and Tamas (Passion and Darkness). This connection is endless. That connection ceases when Purusha becomes divested of these two through the influence of Good Intelligence.^42

On this ‘Purusha’ (Self) are established the fruits of acts. In him is established Knowledge. In him is Heedlessness. In him are pleasure and pain ; as also life and death, and consciousness <of Identity, the senses being various, and their objects being infinite, knowledge (taking the word as indicative of a concept) necessarily becomes various, or, rather, infinite. As already stated in aphorism 37 above, these concepts are named after the particular sense from or through which they are derived. Knowlege, in reality, is one or a unified whole, like the sound produced by a Vina. In consequence, however, of the senses and objects being various, knowledge assumes an apparent variety of form, like the notes originated by the touch of the different fingers with the different frets.— T.