Vada in Theory and Practice: Studies in Debates, Dialogues and Discussions in Indian Intellectual Discourses c5.s9: Language and Stylistics

Vāda in Theory and Practice: Studies in Debates, Dialogues and Discussions in Indian Intellectual Discourses c5.s9

Language: English

Language and Stylistics

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With a fully developed theory of *vāda* (see Chap. 3), which was reflected in actual practice in debates held in public or through writings, the interlocutors experimented with language and introduced their own idioms.

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Dharmakīrti, a very serious Buddhist philosopher, displays a rare sense of subtle humour, when he chides his opponents — specially the orthodox Naiyāyikas. He then uses some of the finest proverbial expressions for mockery and satire. Here are some examples revealing Dharmakīrti as a philosopher who can also laugh and rejoice by the way of defeating the opponents in the battle of arguments. In the discussion of the causal property of *svabhāva hetu* (self-nature kind of probans) Dharmakīrti makes fun of his opponent for the view that a incapable cause is seen to produce its effect, by these remarks:

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Oh how highly powerful is the glance of the highly influential one, that it assigns activities of various kinds to incapable things. Our minds are pained by the worry that when this glance of your stops falling, alas, things will be rendered as having a non-productive character and will be removed from a causal series!⁴⁶

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Taking into consideration the opponent’s contention that the self-nature characterized by the uninterrupted action remains with the cause even before the final state, Dharmakīrti again finds an occasion to be mused by the absurdity of this argument and laughs at him by saying:

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[If this is the case], then how is it that someone is a mother and is also a barren lady? Or what is the meaning of this saying — that a thing by its nature possesses uninterrupted action, but does not perform the action?⁴⁷

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Refuting the opponent’s view of the six characteristics of sound probans, Dharmakīrti says: “why does this poor fellow seek a son after marrying a eunuch?”.⁴⁸

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Sometimes he is rather harsh on his opponents and hurls accusations on them with remarks such as:

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They do not deserve any attention, since they are simply crying in distress, their vitals being pierced with the spear of envy (on account of my victory in the arguments)!⁴⁹

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He calls the followers of Sāṁkhya system as animals.

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Dharmakīrti rejoices in teasing his opponents and at times becomes quite dramatic in his attacks. This tendency specially surfaces when he enters into an argument with the Sāṁkhya philosophers. In *Vādanyāya*, he refutes their idea of *anupalabdhi*. His acquaintance with the use of the figure of speeches like *vakrokti* and *ukta-pratyukta* in the poetic fancies of his times must have led him to make remarks such as:

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Wherefrom your honour has learnt this magic without *mantra* and *auṣadha* (herbs) that the same object, with no excess in its nature being generated or destroyed (remaining intact in the same form), sometimes becomes an object of perception, sometimes not, sometimes it is apprehended through inference, and again through perception and by verbal testimony at the same time without any change in its excess of its form and without having any change nature and not having getting any kind of excess?⁵⁰

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His satires and sarcastic remarks also reveal repulsion against the tenets of Brāhmanism. Dharmakīrti has used some rare idioms, phrases and expressions when laughing at his enemies. In one such context, he has used the term *parvakārin*. A *parvakārin* is a brāhmaṇa performing rites on the occasion of a *parva*, i.e. the 8^th, 14^th and 15^th days of *śukla-pakṣa* (the full moon half month). From *parvakārin* comes the term *parvabrāhmaṇa* which Dharmakīrti has used for a greedy brāhmaṇa demanding more fees after having free food in a *śrāddha* ritual. Dharmakīrti has equated his opponents — the orthodox Naiyāyikas to this *parvabrāhmaṇa* in the context of their insistence on the inclusion of *pratijñā* (statement) in the *pañcāvayava-vākya* (fivefold statement).⁵¹ *Amūlyadānakrayin* (a person trying to purchase things without paying their price) is another such term used by Dharmakīrti in the context of Naiyāyikas and the Vaiśeṣikas imputing the difference between the pot and its form.⁵² *Bhaṇḍālekhyanyāya* and *ḍiṇḍikarāga* are other interesting phrases which Dharmakīrti uses to rebuke his opponents. *Ḍiṇḍikarāga* is cited as an instance for the Naiyāyikas who are making argument for the sake of argument only. *Ḍiṇḍikas* are supposed to be the naked Jaina monks. They were known for their habit of writing their names again and again.⁵³ *Bhaṇḍālekhyanyāya* must have been a popular maxim, but it is not listed in the *laukika nyāyas* (popular maxims) in the lexicons and grammar manuals. Dharmakīrti has used this *nyāya* as an illustration for the buffoonery of his opponents⁵⁴ (a *bhaṇḍa* is a buffoon and *ālekhya* is painting.)

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Jayarāśī was a follower of Cārvāka system (see next chapter). In his *Tattvopaplavasiṁha* he has critiqued all the systems of philosophy and spares none of them from making a fun. He has chided the Buddhists philosophers like Dharmakīrti by using such phrases as — *tad bālavilasitam* (acting like a child, p. 29), *jadaviteṣṭitaṁ* (acting like a fool, p. 32), *tadetan mugdhābhidhānaṁ dunoti mānasaṁ* (this kind of saying like that of a simpleton really hurts our mind, p. 39), *tad bālavalgitaṁ* (that was the chattering of a child, p. 39), *tan mugdhavilasitaṁ* (that was the act by a fool, p. 53), etc. He is still more harsh and sarcastic for the Jaina monks.⁵⁵

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Śrīharṣa is well known for his wit and sharpness in attacking his opponents in debates. In the discussion on Asatkāraṇavāda (effect being produced without a cause) he remonstrates his opponent by saying:

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Even this stretching of feet by the way of saying that there are infinite universals will not be for your relief.⁵⁶

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He further adds on his discussion on *sattā* according to Sadvāda and Asadvāda:

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This is like the sentry awakening after the thieves have already taken away the loot!⁵⁷

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The Jaina philosophers theoretically upheld non-violence as the highest virtue, but did not leg behind in indulging in the violence of speech in most sarcastic ways. Nor did they lack in the capacity of boasting about their debating skills. Devasūrin (\textsc{ce} 1186–1269) in his *Syādvādamañjarī* says:

Linked texts (3)

Tattvopaplavasiṃha — Jayarāśi Bhaṭṭa, Sanskrit
Vādanyāya — Dharmakīrti, Sanskrit
Anyayogavyavacchedikā — Hemacandra, Sanskrit