Sarvadarshanasangraha 10.39

10.39

tatra dravyatvapakṣo na ghaṭate/ vikalpānupapatteḥ/ dravyaṃ bhavadandhakārākhyaṃ pṛthivyādyanyatamam anyad vā/ nādyaḥ/ yatrāntarbhāvo 'sya tasya yāvanto guṇās tāvadguṇakatvaprasaṅgāt/ na dvitīyaḥ/ nirguṇasya tasya dravyatvāsaṃbhavena dravyāntaratvasya sutarām asaṃbhavāt/

But an opponent may here object that "what you formerly stated (p. 147) as to existence being denied of darkness, &c., is surely unreasonable; for, in fact, there are no less than four different opinions maintained on this point,—thus (a.) the Bhāṭṭa Mīmāṃsakas and the Vedāntins hold that darkness is a substance; (b.) Śrīdhara Ācārya[38] holds that the colour of dark blue is imposed [and thus darkness will be a quality]; (c.) some of the Prābhākara Mīmāṃsakas hold that it is the absence of the cognition of light; (d.) the Naiyāyikas, &c., hold that it is the absence of light." In reply, we assert that as for the first alleged opinion (a.) it is quite out of the question, as it is consistent with neither of the two possible alternatives; for if darkness is a substance, it must either be one of the nine well-known substances, earth, &c.,[39] or some different one. But it cannot be any one of the nine, since, under whichever one you would place it, all the qualities of that substance should certainly be found in it; nor can you, on the other hand, assert that it is some substance different from these nine, since, being in itself destitute of qualities, it cannot properly be a substance at all [the very definition of substance being "that which is the substratum of qualities"], and therefore, of course, it cannot be a different substance from the nine.