पञ्चात्मकम् इति कस्मात् पृथिव्य् आपस् तेजो वायुर् आकाशम् इत्य् अस्मिन् पञ्चात्मके शरीरे का पृथिवी का आपः किं तेजः को वायुः किम् आकाशम् तत्र पञ्चात्मके शरीरे यत् कठिनं सा पृथिवी यद् द्रवं ता आपः यद् उष्णं तत् तेजः यत् संचरति स वायुः यच् छुषिरं तद् आकाशम् तत्र पृथिवी धारणे आपः पिण्डीकरणे तेजः प्रकाशने वायुर् व्यूहने आकाशम् अवकाशप्रदाने पृथक् श्रोत्रे शब्दोपलब्धौ त्वक् स्पर्शे चक्षुषी रूपे जिह्वा रसने नासिका घ्राणे उपस्थ आनन्दने अपानम् उत्सर्गे बुद्ध्या बुध्यति मनसा संकल्पयति वाचा वदति षडाश्रयम् इति कस्मात् मधुराम्ललवणतिक्तकटुकषायरसान् विन्दतीति षड्जऋषभगान्धारमध्यमपञ्चमधैवतनिषादाश् चेतीष्टानिष्टशब्दसंज्ञाः प्रणिधानाद् दशविधा भवन्ति
pañcātmakam iti kasmāt pṛthivy āpas tejo vāyur ākāśam ity asmin pañcātmake śarīre kā pṛthivī kā āpaḥ kiṃ tejaḥ ko vāyuḥ kim ākāśam tatra pañcātmake śarīre yat kaṭhinaṃ sā pṛthivī yad dravaṃ tā āpaḥ yad uṣṇaṃ tat tejaḥ yat saṃcarati sa vāyuḥ yac chuṣiraṃ tad ākāśam tatra pṛthivī dhāraṇe āpaḥ piṇḍīkaraṇe tejaḥ prakāśane vāyur vyūhane ākāśam avakāśapradāne pṛthak śrotre śabdopalabdhau tvak sparśe cakṣuṣī rūpe jihvā rasane nāsikā ghrāṇe upastha ānandane apānam utsarge buddhyā budhyati manasā saṃkalpayati vācā vadati ṣaḍāśrayam iti kasmāt madhurāmlalavaṇatiktakaṭukaṣāyarasān vindatīti ṣaḍjaṛṣabhagāndhāramadhyamapañcamadhaivataniṣādāś cetīṣṭāniṣṭaśabdasaṃjñāḥ praṇidhānād daśavidhā bhavanti
“Fivefold” — why? Earth, waters, heat, wind, space. What in this fivefold body is earth, what the waters, what heat, what wind, what space? What is solid is earth, what is fluid is the waters, what is hot is heat, what moves is wind, what is hollow is space. And earth serves for holding, the waters for binding together, heat for illumining, wind for arraying, space for granting room. The ears are for hearing sound, the skin for touch, the eyes for form, the tongue for taste, the nose for smell, the organ of generation for pleasure, the apāna for evacuation; by the intellect he understands, by the mind he intends, by speech he speaks. “Six-supported” — why? He obtains the tastes sweet, sour, salty, bitter, pungent and astringent; and the seven notes — ṣaḍja, ṛṣabha, gāndhāra, madhyama, pañcama, dhaivata, niṣāda — called wished-for and unwished-for sounds, become tenfold by attention.
f2d2c3c5ece1 · प्रकाशित 29 जुल॰ 2026, 2:57:05 am UTC
उपलब्ध भाषाएँRUENश्लोक बदलें इन कुंजियों से
The first of the numbers is explained, and explained with that sobriety which sets this book apart from the rest.
The elements are defined not by their names but by their marks: earth is what is solid; water, what is fluid; fire, what is hot; wind, what moves; space, what is hollow.
This is definition by function, not by substance. And that is why it works: there is no lump of earth in the body, but there are bones, and they are solid.
Then it is said what each serves for: to hold, to bind, to illumine, to array, to give room. Five tasks, out of which every body is composed.
Next the senses are listed, each with its object named. Notice the two unusual members of the list: upastha ānandane — “the organ of generation for pleasure” — and apāna utsarge, “the apāna for evacuation”.
The book is not ashamed of the body and does not divide it into the decent and the indecent: it lists everything in order, as one lists the parts of a mechanism.
The six supports turn out to be the six tastes; and to them are at once added the seven notes of the musical scale — ṣaḍja, ṛṣabha and the rest, the very ones that are the foundation of Indian music to this day.
Note the phrase iṣṭāniṣṭa-śabda — “wished-for and unwished-for sounds”. Hearing is named as that which distinguishes not the loud from the soft, but the pleasant from the unpleasant. The body is described not as an instrument, but as that which is already appraising.