Diet

That kind of action which belongs to the several beings has been described here. I am now going to explain the manner of their birth.—(42)

“Where has the action been described? In Verses 37 et seq. what occurs is only the mention of the names of several beings, Yakṣa, Rākṣasa and the rest; and their action is not mentioned at all.”

येषां भूतानां यादृशं कर्म स्वभावतो हिंस्रम् अहिंस्रं वा तद्वत् तथैव कीर्तितम् । इदानीं जन्म**क्रमयोगम् अभिधास्यामि **। क्व पुनः कर्म कीर्तितं यत्रेदं यक्षरक्ष इत्यादि नामनिर्देशो न कर्मनिर्देशः । उच्यते । नामनिर्देशाद् एव कर्मावगतिः, कर्मनिमित्तत्वाद् एषां नामप्रतिलम्भस्य । तथा हि यक्षणाद् भक्षणाद् अशनाद् वा यक्षाः । रहसि क्षणनाद्¹ रक्षांसि । पिषिताशनात् पिशाचाः । अद्भ्यः सृता इत्य् अप्सरसः । अमृताख्यायाः सुराया अलाभाद् असुरा । इत्याद्य् अप्य् ऊह्यम् । जन्मनि क्रमयोगो जरायुजाण्डजा इत्यादि वक्ष्यते ॥ १.४२ ॥

J adds: rakṣaṇād vā

‘That kind of action which belongs to the several beings,’—i.e., hurtful or harmless—‘has been already described’;—now ‘I am going to explain the manner of their birth.’

Objection.—

> “Where has the action been described? In Verses 37 et seq. what > occurs is only the mention of the names of several beings, Yakṣa, > Rākṣasa and the rest; and their action is not mentioned at all.”

Our answer is as follows:—The action of each being is indicated by its name; the particular name being acquired by each being by reason of its actions: for instance, the Yakṣas are so called because of the act of worshpping, or pervading (‘Yakṣaṇa’);—the ‘Rākṣasa’ are so called because of the act of destroying in secret (‘rahasi kṣaṇana’);—the Piśāchas are so called because of the act of devouring flesh (‘piśitāśana’);—the Apsarases are so called because of the act of issuing forth from water (adbhyaḥ ṣṛtāḥ);— the Asuras are so called because of the act of not obtaining surā, in the form of nectar; and so on, the significance of the other names may be traced.

‘The manner of their birth’—i.e., they are viviparous, oviparous and the like; going to be described in the following verses.—(42)

042 But whatever act is stated (to belong) to (each of) those creatures here below, that I will truly declare to you, as well as their order in respect to birth.

Cattle, Deer, Wild Beasts with two rows of teeth, Rākṣasas, Piśācas and Men are viviparous.—(43)

एते जरायुजाः । जरायुर् उल्बं गर्भशय्या । तत्र प्रथमं ते संभवन्ति । ततो मुक्ता जायन्ते । एष एतेषां जन्मक्रमः । दन्तशब्दसमानार्थो दत्शब्दो ऽन्यो ऽस्तीत्य् उभयतोदत इति प्रथमाबहुवचने रूपं युज्यते ॥ १.४३ ॥

These are ‘viviparous,’ ‘born from the Jarāyu’; Jarāyu is the womb, the place where the fœtus lies; it is in the womb that these beings are conceived first, and it is only when they are emitted from the womb that they become born; this is the manner of the birth of these beings.

The term ‘dat’ is synonymous with ‘danta,’ and is totally different from it; hence it is that we have the nominative plural form ‘ubhayatodataḥ’ (‘with two rows of teeth’).—(43)

‘Ubhayatodataḥ’—A compound difficult to explain. The word ‘danta’ becomes transformed into ‘dat’ only in special cases, laid down in Pāṇini 5.4.141-145. The only explanation possible is that given by Medhātithi,—that the term ‘dat’ is an entirely different word from ‘danta’

043 Cattle, deer, carnivorous beasts with two rows of teeth, Rakshasas, Pisakas, and men are born from the womb.

Birds, Serpents, Crocodiles, Fishes, Tortoises, and other animals of similar kinds, terrestrial as well as aquatic,—are oviparous.—(44)

नक्राः शिशुमरादयः । कच्छपः कूर्मः । यानि चैवंप्रकाराणि कृकलासादीनि स्थलजानि । एवंरूपाण्य् औदकानि जलजानि शङ्खादीनि ॥ १.४४ ॥

‘Crocodiles’—includes the Porpoise and the rest;—‘Kacchapāḥ’ are the Tortoises;—‘other animals of similar kinds’—i.e., wizards (lizards?) and the like, which are ‘terrestrial,’ born on land, and such others of similar kinds as are ‘aquatic’ born in water; such, for instance, as conches and the rest.—(44)

044 From eggs are born birds, snakes, crocodiles, fishes, tortoises, as well as similar terrestrial and aquatic (animals).

Gadflies and Gnats, Lice, Flies and Bugs, are sweat- born; whatever else is of similar character is born from heat—(45)

स्वेदः पार्थिवानां द्रव्याणाम् अग्न्यादित्यादितापसंबन्धाद् अन्तःक्लेदस् ततो जायते दंशमशकादि । अन्यद् अपि यद् ईदृशम् अत्यन्तसूक्ष्मं पुत्तिकापिपीलिकादि यद् ऊष्मण उपजायते । ऊष्मा स्वेद एव, तद्धेतुर् वा तापः । “उपजायन्ते” इति वा पाठः । “ये चान्ये केचिद् ईदृशाः” इति पठितव्यम् ॥ १.४५ ॥

‘Crocodiles’—includes the Porpoise and the rest;—‘Kacchapāḥ’ are the Tortoises;—‘other animals of similar kinds’—i.e., wizards (lizards?) and the like, which are ‘terrestrial,’ born on land, and such others of similar kinds as are ‘aquatic’ born in water; such, for instance, as conches and the rest.—(44)

The two halves form two distinct sentences. So Burnell; but Buhler takes the whole as one sentence.

045 From hot moisture spring stinging and biting insects, lice, flies, bugs, and all other (creatures) of that kind which are produced by heat.

All those immovable brings that are produced by splitting (i.e., Plants) grow out of seeds and slips. those that, abounding in flowers, perish with the ripening of their fruit, are called ‘oṣadhis’ (‘Annuals’).—(46)

उद्भेदनम् उद्भित् । भावे क्विप् । ततो जायन्त इति उद्भिज्जाः । उप्तं बीजं भूमिं च भित्त्वा विदार्य जायन्ते वृक्षाः । सर्वे बीजात् काण्डाच् च प्ररोहन्ति जायन्ते मूलस्कन्धादिना दृढीभवन्ति । तथ्औषध्यः । ओषधय इति युक्तम् । ईकारः कृदिकारद् इति, छान्दसो वा । इदं तासां स्वाभाविकं कर्म । पाकान्ताः फलपाकः अन्तो नाश आसाम् इति । पक्वे फले व्रीह्यादयो नश्यन्ति, बहुना च पुष्पफलेनोपगताः युक्ता भवन्ति । औषधीनां वृक्षाणां च यथासंभवम् एतद् विशेषणम् ॥ १.४६ ॥

‘Udbhid’ stands for ‘udbhedana,’ the act of splitting; the ‘kvip’ affix having a nominal force;—‘those that are duced by splitting are ‘udbhijja’; they are so called because they come into existence by splitting the seed and breaking through the soil; and these are plants; all these plants ‘grown out of seeds and slips’ and become fixed in their places by means of roots and trunks and other such things.

‘Oṣadhyaḥ’—the right form is ‘oṣadhayaḥ’ (because the base ends in short i). Or we may take the word as a form of the base with the long ī; this lengthening of the vowel being explained, either as according to the Vārtika on Pāṇini 4.1.45, or as a Vedic anomily.

The natural characteristic feature of these oṣadhis—i.e., Annuals—is as follows: ‘They with the ripening of their fruit’;—i.e, the ripening of the fruit constitutes their end or perishing; as a matter of fact, the paddy and other such plants perish as soon as their fruit has ripened. They also abound in, are endowed with, many fruits and flowers.

What is stated in this verse is the distinguishing characteristic of oṣadhis (Annual plants), and what follows in the following verse, constitutes the distinguishing feature of Vṛkṣas (Perennial Trees); the characters mentioned being attributed to them in accordance with actual facts.—(40)

Medhātithi takes ‘udbhijjāḥ sthāvarāḥ’ as the subject, and ‘bījakāṇḍaprarohiṇaḥ’ as the predicate of the sentence. Buhler reverses this.

046 All plants, propagated by seed or by slips, grow from shoots; annual plants (are those) which, bearing many flowers and fruits, perish after the ripening of their fruit;

Those trees that are called ‘vanaspati’ bear fruits without flowers; and those called ‘vṛkṣa’ bear both flowers and fruits.—(47)

विना पुष्पेण फलं जायते येषां ते वनस्पतयः कथ्यन्ते, न वृक्षाः । पुष्पिणः फलिनश् च वृक्षाः । उभययोगात् क्वचिद् वनस्पतयो वृक्षा अपि उच्यन्ते, वृक्षाश् च वनस्पतयो ऽपि । तत्र विशेषहेतुत्वं² दर्शयिष्यामः ।

J: hetuṃ

• वयं तु ब्रूमः । नायं शब्दार्थसंबन्धविधिर् व्याकरणस्मृतिवत् । तेन नायम् अर्थो य एवंस्वभावास् ते वनस्पत्यादिशब्दवाच्याः, किं तर्हि पुष्पफलानां जन्मोच्यते । तस्य वक्तव्यतया प्रकृतत्वात् “क्रमं योगं तु जन्मनि” (म्ध् १.४२) इति । द्विधा फलानाम् उत्पत्तिः । अन्तरेण पुष्पाणि जायन्ते पुष्पेभ्यश् च । एवं पुष्पाणि वृक्षेभ्यश् च । तेन यद्य् अप्य् एवम् अभिधानं “ये फलिनस् ते वनस्पतयो ज्ञेयास्” तथापि प्रकरणसामर्थ्याद् यत्तदोर् व्यत्ययः कर्तव्यः । ये वनस्पतय इति एवं प्रसिद्धास् ते ऽपुष्पाः फलवन्तस् तेभ्यः पुष्पम् अन्तरेण फलानि जायन्ते इति । सामर्थ्याच् चायं क्रमो ऽवतिष्ठते । यथा “वाससा स्तम्भं प्रवेष्टय” इति वाससि परिधातव्ये ऽयम् अर्थो ऽस्य भवति । स्तम्भे निधाय वासः परिधापयेति । प्रसिद्धम् अप्य् एतद् अनूद्यते “तमसा बहुरूपेण” (म्ध् १.४९) इत्य् एतत् प्रतिपादयितुम् ॥ १.४७ ॥

[The ordinary meaning of the verse is as follows]—Those trees, in whom fruits are produced without flowers, are called ‘Vanasputi,’ not ‘Vṛkṣa’; while those that bear flowers as well as fruits are, by reason of the presence of both, called ‘Vṛkṣa’ As a matter of fact, however, Vanaspatis are also called ‘Vṛkṣa,’ and Vṛkṣas are spoken of as ‘Vanaspati.’ The particular grounds of such usage will have to be shown later on.

What we hold however (as to the real meaning of this verse), is as follows:—The present work does not make it its business to lay down the meanings of words, in the manner of grammatical works; so that the meaning of the verse cannot be that ‘those that have such and such a character are denoted by the word Vanaspati, and so forth.’ In fact what is described here is the manner of the birth of fruits; this (manner of birth) having been put forward (in Verse 42) as the subject ih hand. The meaning thus is as follows:—Fruits are produced in two ways: they are produced without flowers, and also from flowers; and flowers are produced from trees (called Vṛkṣa). Thus then, it follows that, even though the statement is apparently in the form ’those that bear fruits without flowers are to be known as Vanaspati,’—yet in view of what forms the subject-matter of the context, the ‘yat’ (‘which’) and ‘tat’ (‘that’) should be made to change their places; the construction being—‘those trees that are known by the name Vanaspati have no flowers, and yet they bear fruits’;—i.e., in these trees fruits grow without flowers; this construction is adopted on the strength of actual facts. Such altering of the construction on the strength of facts we also find in such cases as the following Though the actual words are in the form ‘vāsasā pariveṣṭayeṭ,’ ‘the post should bo surrounded with cloth,’—yet in as much as the cloth has got to be worn by the man, the words are constructed as ‘stambhe nidhāya vāsaḥ paridhāpayet’ ‘the cloth should be hung on the post and then made to be worn.’

Though what is stated in the present verse is a well known fact (and as such did not need to be mentioned in the Smṛti), yet it has been mentioned with the purpose of serving as an introduction to what is going to be stated below in Verse 49—‘Enveloped in darkness, &c. &c.’—(47)

047 (Those trees) which bear fruit without flowers are called vanaspati (lords of the forest); but those which bear both flowers and fruit are called vriksha.

The various kinds op clumps and thickets, and the other species of grass, as also low-spreading tendrils and creepers—all these grow out of seeds and slips.—(48)

याः संहता भूमेर् बद्धा एकमूला अनेकमूलाश् च लता उत्तिष्ठन्ति न च वृद्धिं महतीं प्राप्नुवन्ति तासां संघातो गुच्छगुल्मशब्दवाच्यः तृणमूलकादिः । तयोस् तु भेदः पुष्पवद् अपुष्पकृतो वा । अन्या वा तृणजातयः कुशशाद्वलशङ्खपुष्पीप्रभृतयः । प्रताना दीर्घा भूमिगतास् तृणप्ररोहाः । वल्ल्यो व्रतत्यः भूमेर् उत्पत्य वृक्षम् अन्यं वा कंचित् परिवेष्ट्योर्ध्वम् आरुहन्ति । सर्वम् एतत् वृक्षवत् बीजकाण्डरुहम् ॥ १.४८ ॥

‘Clumps and Thickets’—is the name given to the cluster of those shoots that grow together in large numbers, having one or several roots, and do not attain any considerable height; e.g., Copses and the like. Or ‘guccha’ ‘Clump’ and ‘gulma’ ‘thicket’ may be taken as two different things; the difference between the two being that, while one bears flowers, the other is flowerless.—Other ‘species of grass—e. g., kuśa, śādbala, śaṅkhapuṣpī and so forth.—Lowspreading tendrils—the long shoots of grass spreading on the ground.—‘Creepers’—are those shoots that grow out of the earth and clinging round a tree or some other object, rise upwards.—All these, like trees, ‘grow out of seeds and slips’—(48)

Burnell represents Medhātithi to explain ‘guccha-gulma’ as ‘one root and many roots’. This is not fair. What Medhātithi says is that the names ‘guccha-gulma’ are applied to clusters of short-growing creepers which may have one root or several roots.’ Kullūka defines ‘guccha’ as the single shoot springing from the root and having no boughs, and ‘gulma’ as a clump of shoots coming up from one root According to Medhātithi the difference between the two consists in the fact that while the former has flowers, the latter has none.

048 But the various plants with many stalks, growing from one or several roots, the different kinds of grasses, the climbing plants and the creepers spring all from seed or from slips.

All these (vegetable beings) are invested by manifold ‘darkness’ (inertia), the result of their acts; and possessing inner consciousness, they are affected by pleasure and pain.—(49)

कर्म अधर्माख्यं हेतुर् यस्य तमसस् तेन वेष्टिता व्याप्ताः । बहुरूपेण विचित्रदुःखानुभवनिमित्तेन । यद्य् अपि सर्वं त्रिगुणं तथाप्य् एषां तम उद्रिक्तम्, अपचिते सत्त्वरजसी । अतस् तमोबाहुल्यान् नित्यं निर्वेददुःखादियुक्ता अधर्मफलम् अनुभवन्तः सुचिरम् आस्ते । सत्त्वस्यापि तत्र भावात् कस्यांचिद् अवस्थायां सुखलेशम् अपि भुञ्जते । तद् आह- सुखदुःखसमन्विता इति । अन्तःसंज्ञेति³ । संज्ञा⁴ बुद्धिस् तल्लिङ्गस्य बहिर्विहारव्याहारादेः कार्यस्य चेष्टारूपस्याभावाद् अन्तःसंज्ञा उच्यन्ते । अन्यथान्तर् एव सर्वः पुरुषश् चेतयते । अथ वा यथा मनुष्याः कण्टकादितोदं प्राक् चेतयन्ते नैवं स्थावराः । ते हि महान्तं प्रतोदं परशुविदारणादिदुखसंज्ञायाम् अपेक्षन्ते । यथा स्वापमदमूर्च्छावस्थागताः प्राणिनः ॥ १.४९ ॥

M G: antaḥsaṃjñā

M G omit

They are ‘invested,’ pervaded over, by that ‘Darkness’ (Inertia) of which the cause is ‘action,’ in the form of vice;—‘manifold,’ being the cause of the experiencing of various kinds of pain. As a matter of fact, all things are made up of three Constituent Attributes; so what is meant is that in the beings here described the Attribute of ‘Darkness’ is in excess, and those of ‘Harmony’ and ‘Energy’ are present in less degrees; hence as abounding in ‘Darkness’ (Inertia), and beset with pain and humiliation, they continue, for a long time, to experience the results of their vicious acts.

In as much as the Attribute of ‘Goodness’ (Harmony) also is present in them, they do enjoy, in certain conditions, small measures of pleasure also; it is in view of this that they are described as ‘affected by pleasure and pain.’

‘Possessing inner consciousness,’—the term ‘saṃjñā’ stands for Buddhi, Intelligence (Consciousness); and in as much as activity in the form of going out, speaking and the like,—which are the effects indicative of the presence of consciousness,—is absent (in Trees), they are described as ‘possessing inner consciousness.’ This must be the meaning of the epithet ‘inner’; as otherwise, since every person exercises consciousness only within himself [there would be no point in the epithet at all]. Or, the meaning may be that plants are unable to have any cognisance of the prickings of thorns and other small things, to the extent that human beings are; in fact for the experiencing of pain they stand in need of such massive strokes as cutting with the axe and the like;—being, in this respect, like animate beings in the state of sleep, intoxication or swoon. [Which shows that plants have their consciousness lying far deeper within than in animals.]—(49)

049 These (plants) which are surrounded by multiform Darkness, the result of their acts (in former existences), possess internal consciousness and experience pleasure and pain.