A History of Hindu Chemistry from the Earliest Times to the Middle of the Sixteenth Century A.D. v2.c35.105.3

v2.c35.105.3

Assuming that articulate sounds are signficant, the question is :—how is the sentence, which is the unit of articulate speech, broken up into significant words and their mutual relations ? Patanjali answers that this is done by an instinctive use (cf. Váchaspati's श्रुतिदर्शनजनितसंस्कारम् इन्द्रियम्) of the Joint Method of Difference (combined Addition and Subtraction), fortified by the Joint Method of Agreement (अन्वयव्यतिरेकौ). Patanjali starts with a simple case. Take the two sentence-units :—Pathati (he reads) and Pachati (he cooks). Suppose you start with the assumption that these sounds are significant, and that separate elements have separate meanings. Then you hear Pathati, and, at the same time, a man reading is pointed at. Then the assemblage of sounds Pathati (i. e., Path + ati) stands for the assemblage—'one reads,' (i. e. the action reading + an individual agent). Similarly by finger-pointing or other indication, you find that the assemblage Pachati (i. e. Pach + ati) stands for the assemblage 'one cooks' (i. e. the action cooking + an individual agent, say, the same agent as before).