History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c93.532

v7.c93.532

The six means may each come in conflict with all the means that follow each of them. Therefore, there will be five cases of conflict of śruti with liṅga (which has already been described) or with vākya, or prakaraṇa or sthāna or samākhyā; there will be four cases of conflict between liṅga and vākya or each of the three ones (of the means) that follow vākya in the sūtra, in the same way vākya may be in conflict with prakaraṇa and the other two (in all three cases), prakaraṇa may be in conflict with sthāna or samākhyā (i. e. two cases) and sthāna may be in conflict with samākhyā. So that there are in all fifteen cases of conflict of the six means among themselves. We need not take into account the conflict of one of the six means with its predecessors, since to say that liṅga may be in conflict with śruti is the same thing as saying that śruti may be in conflict with liṅga. Very large space would have to be devoted if all these fifteen possible conflicts are to be exemplified from Vedic and Dharmaśāstra texts. Therefore, the author does not essay that task.