History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c93.287

v7.c93.287

Arthavādas are of three kinds viz. guṇavāda, anuvāda and bhūtārthavāda; 'when an arthavāda text is in conflict with ordinary experience it is metaphorical, when something is definitely ascertained by other means of knowledge and becomes the subject of a text it is called anuvāda and when a text is not opposed to other pramāṇas or is not definitely ascertained otherwise, it is called 'bhūtārthavāda' (statement of an accomplished fact, or of a past event); in this way arthavāda is of three kinds'.²⁰¹⁶ An example of the first kind is 'during day-time only the smoke of fire is seen and not its flame' (this is Tai. Br II 1. 2 10). One sees both smoke and fire during the day and night. What this text desires to emphasize is that by day the light of fire is not so well seen as at night (or not well seen from a distance by day as at night).