Indian Philosophy v2.c25.s2.11

v2.c25.s2.11

The Mīmāṁsaka accepts generally the Nyāya theory of the senses except in regard to the auditory sense. Spatial proximity and remoteness are perceived directly, not only through vision and touch, but also through hearing. Space is distinguished into deśa, or locus, and dik, or direction, and both these are directly perceived as qualifying adjuncts (viśeṣaṇas) of sounds. The auditory organ is prāpyakāri, i.e. comes into contact with the object, sound. The ear does not go out to the object, viz. sound at a distance, but the sound is propagated to the ear-drum through the air waves. This view accounts for the fact that persons near at hand apprehend sounds, while those at a distance do not. It also explains the different degrees of the intensity of sounds.² If the ear could apprehend sounds, without coming into direct contact with them, as the Buddhists imagine, then all sounds, far and near, would be simultaneously perceived through the ear, which is not the case. The ear contains a layer of air on which the current of air issuing from the speaker impinges, producing the condition under which sound is heard. The ear does not come into contact with the locus of the sound, but only with the sound which has its locus in the ear-drum. But sounds are always perceived as having their loci in different points of space, and not in the ear-drum. They reach the ear, not as mere sounds, but as coloured by the different directions from which they spring. So, sounds as well as their directions are directly perceived. Even distance is perceived through the ear, since sounds coming from a proximate point are more intense (tīvra) than those coming from a distance. So the perception of the feeble or intense character of sounds helps us to know the distance from which they issue.