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Vada in Theory and Practice: Studies in Debates, Dialogues and Discussions in Indian Intellectual Discourses c5.s5: Appreciating a Conversation

Vāda in Theory and Practice: Studies in Debates, Dialogues and Discussions in Indian Intellectual Discourses c5.s5

Language
English

Appreciating a Conversation

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Bhāravi in his *Kirātārjunīyam* has presented a debate between Draupadī, Bhīma and Yudhiṣṭhira involving perennial questions of polity and war. He has also described the qualities of speech for any conversation. They are — brilliance, perspicuity, grace and defined import (*sauṣṭhvodāryaviśeṣaśālinīṁ viniścitārthāṁ* — I.3), reasoning and radiance (*upapattimadūrjitāśrayam* — II.1), free from vagueness, pure, concise but heavily loaded with meanings (*. . . garīyasi . . . bahur alpīyasi dṛṣyate guṇaḥ* — II.4) charming in sense (*rucirārthā* — II.5).

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Bhīma delivers a discourse on the necessity of quick action against Duryodhana. Yudhiṣṭhira praises Bhīma:

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Your pure intention is clearly reflected in your speech, which is free from arguments going against reasoning and proof, it is elegant, attractive for the heart as the image reflected in a mirror free from any coating of dust, transparent and charming to the mind and auspicious. (*apavarjitaviplave śucau hṛdayagrāhiṇi maṅgalāspade . . . vimalā tava vistare girāṁ matir ādarśa iva abhilakṣyate.*)

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He further says:

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Not that perspicuity from the words was removed, not that the depth of meaning was not attended to, distinctness of every section of speech was brought out, and power of expression never overruled. — II.27

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In fact, Yudhiṣṭhira in his praise uses the exact terms from Nyāya philosophy to bring out the force of Bhīma’s argumentative discourse — *upapatti*, *āgama*, *anumāna* (inference), *āśaya* (implication), etc. “The *āgama* was not mutilated by the deliberate use of *anumāna* in your speech” — he says (II.28). The commentators understand *āgama* as *nīti* (good policy) only. However, *āgama* has a wider connotation in Bhāravi’s treatment of the qualities of good discourse. It is a paradigm for life.

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In the eleventh canto of *Kirātārjunīyam*, Arjuna is performing rigorous penances and Indra comes to test his resolve. Arjuna lauds his speech as marked with clarity, charm, force, conciseness, open to questions, embracing wide range and undisturbed. It became like the word of scriptures being unshaken, and was like a flooding deep sea that could not be crossed by common men. It had wealth of meanings and grandeur like the tranquil mind of a seer.³⁰

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