Verse 3.14.255

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 3.14.255:

क्रियायाः साधनाधारसामान्ये नञ् व्यवस्थितः ।
ततो विशिष्टैराधारैर्युज्यते ब्राह्मणादिभिः ॥ २५५ ॥

kriyāyāḥ sādhanādhārasāmānye nañ vyavasthitaḥ |
tato viśiṣṭairādhārairyujyate brāhmaṇādibhiḥ || 255 ||

255. The negative particle relates to (that is, expresses) the negation of the substratum in general of the action(of existence). Therefore it is connected with particular substrata like brāhmaṇa.

Commentary

How, according to the view that the negative particle denotes non-existence in general, there is no need to postulate another existence and it can be connected with kṛtvā etc., is now going to be explained.

[Read verse 255 above]

[As the negative particle is here thought of as expressive of non-existence, the action in question here is that of existence. The negation which is the meaning of the particle is the negation of existence. Being intransitive, its accessory is the power of the agent. This power must have a substratum before it can become the agent. So a substratum in general is understood. The negative particle is expressive of that. What is meant is this: In a compound, the negative particle is expressive of the substratum in general, coloured by non-existence, of the action of existence. So the meaning of nañ amounts to nāsti = ‘it does not exist.’ What particular substratum does not exist is made known by the word with which the particle is connected. Thus in a compound like abrāhmaṇa, the negative particle conveys the non-existence of the substratum in general of the action of nonexistence and the word brāhmaṇa conveys the particular substratum. The meanings of the two constituents of the compound stand in the relation of qualifier and qualified towards each other. The non-existent in general is combined with a particular non- existent. Of the two meanings combined, which is the qualifier and which the qualified is a matter of the speaker’s intention. When the idea of non-existence is the qualified and that of brāhmaṇa the qualifier, the former element, that is, the negative particle becomes the dominant one and there results pūrvapadārthaprādhānya. If the compound means asan brāhmaṇaḥ, the meaning of the second constituent is the qualified and that of the former the qualifier and so uttarapadārthaprādhānya results. In both of these, the meaning of the compound is confined to those of the constituent words. But if the meanings of the constituent words refer to the meaning of an outside word, that is one in whom the fact of being a brāhmaṇa is non-existent, somebody like a kṣattriya, then anyapadārthaprādhānya results. In this way, the three views are possible in the case of apācaka also. As the particle stands for negation of existence in general, we can have forms like akṛtvā, akartum where the root √kṛ stands for a particular action in which existence (sattā) inheres. Thus, by adopting the view that nañ is expressive (vācaka) of nonexistence in general, everything can be explained.]

How the negative particle which is indicative in a sentence becomes expressive in a compound is now explained by means of an analogy.