History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c95.250

v7.c95.250

2542a It is possible that the words 'dhātā yathāpūrvamalkalpayat' (in Ṛg. X. 190.3) simply mean that the Creator arranged the Sun, the Moon, Heaven, Earth and regions according to the priorities (or their proper order). But it cannot be gainsaid that these words are at least the germs of the later doctrine of Kalpa, Manvantara &c Śaṅkarācārya on V. S. I. 3.30 explains the Ṛgveda verse as 'the creator created in the present Kalpa the universe including the Sun and the Moon in the same way as in the preceding Kalpa.' यथा पूर्वस्मिन्कल्पे सूर्याचन्द्रप्रभृति जगत् कॢप्तं तथास्मिन्नपि कल्पे परमेश्वरोऽकल्पयदिदित्यर्थः. He quotes as supporting his views several smṛti verses which occur in the Mahābhārata and in some of the Purāṇas. The present writer feels that it is difficult to hold that a mere illustration or analogy (of seed and tree) can amount to a logical argument. At the most an illustration may lend some plausibility to a theory, belief or conclusion.