Studies in Sāmkhya (III) PDF

Studies in Sāmkhya (III)
Author(s): J. A. B. van Buitenen

Source: Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 77, No. 2 (Apr. - Jun., 1957), pp.
88-107
Published by: American Oriental Society
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STUDIES IN SAMKHYA (III) *
J. A. B. VAN BUITENEN
UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
SATTVA
'excellence,' 'being, creature, thing,' 'character,'
such
AMONG THE CLASSICAL GUNAS, sattva, rajas and usages as in bodhisattva etc.
tamas, the first, though in many respects the most and especially by those who are prone to
Often,
mysterious one, has most readily been rationalize
taken the Samkhya, stress is laid on the ab-
stract
for granted in its classical function. Senart hasnature of sattva, which in their view com-
pares
shown the cosmologic origin of rajas; 1 and, al- favorably with more primitive terms like
rajas
though the same has never been done for and tamas. Indeed, -tva is an abstracting
tamas,
this concept has always been understood in and conceptualizing suffix, and sat itself is not in-
a much
frequently
more "total" sense than that of 'spiritual in- regarded as one of the most admirably
sensibility.' Sattva, on the contrary, with its concepts of early Indian thought-al-
abstract
seeming transparency of meaning and though sattva is only rarely derived from this sat
lack of
Vedic background, was easily accepted as 'the being One, Being,' but more usually from a
a more
advanced abstraction conveying the concept sat rendered
of all " good " (which is however more ac-
curately
that is good in the spirit and the world, with no "strictly observing, meticulously exact,
punctilious
other cosmological content than was lent to it by "), and accordingly sattva is translated
as " goodness."
its original " psychological " or "moral " function.
I believe
At first sight there seems to be little doubt that that in dealing with sattva scholars
the three terms of the triad belong togetherhave inti-
started from the wrong end of the develop-
ment, as they have done in the case of ahamkdra.
mately. This does not prevent that occasionally
Without considering how far the classical Samkhya
we meet them in pairs: rajas and tamas, sattva
of
and tamas, but not, as far as I can see, sattva the and
Karika was representative of contemporane-
rajas; there is also another pair, tapas andous Samnkhya doctrines, let alone of the many
tamas.
Sometimes rajas occurs alone. Tamas forms theories
also the Kiarika presupposes, they were ready
to accept the concepts of the later system as their
part of a different set of four: viparyaya, asakti,
criteria; as in the case of ahamkara they may have
tusti and siddhi, the first of which, viparyaya or
been misled by the comparatively late appearance
"ignorance," comprises the five subdivisions
of sattva as the first guna and the fixed sense which
tamas, moha, mahdmoha, tdmisra and andhatd-
it has as this guna from the early occurrences
misra.2 Likewise sattva occurs alone, in a great onwards. One result of this classicism was the
variety of meanings: in an older period it was
acceptance of sattva and the other gunas as factors
more or less synonymous with buddhi, and there
only conditioning the individual soul's buddh
are occasions where sattva even represents the
their cosmological function being looked upon
"material" and is directly opposed to ksetrajna.
either as secondary or as superseded.3 Senart, i
These meanings of sattva occur in contexts which
his study of rajas, reacted against this apriorist
evidently are part of proto-Samkhyan doctrines;
view, but as far as the cosmic origin of sattva w
nonetheless they are usually sharply distinguished
concerned confined himself to a tentative sugge
from sattva 'first guna' without an attempt to
tion, while against his entire argument grave ob
justify this distinction historically. Other func-
tions of sattva seem to be still further removed: jections can be raised. Przyluski started where
Senart had left off, but he confused the issue with
his hazardous speculations.
'See JAOS, LXXVI (1956), pp. 153ff.; LXXVII
(1957), pp. 15 ff. In the two preceding studies which have ap-
1 Emile Senart, "Rajas et la theorie indienne des trois
gunas," JAs. lime serie, tome VI (1915). 3 Cf. e.g. E. H. Johnston, Early Simkhya (London,
2 Samkhyakkrika 47. 1937), p. 38.
88
VAN BUITENEN: Studies in Sdmkyhya (III) 89
peared in this JOURNAL,4 the writer has tried to impossible to derive "later" concepts from the
show that the proto-Samkhyan texts have pre- upanisads, i. e. those upanisads that are strictly
served vestigial evidence of the ancient evolu- speaking Vedic. Rather, we should look for cer-
tionary function of the gunas, memories of which tain basic patterns which underlie doctrines of
where perpetuated in the syncretistic aharmkra both milieux and not concentrate too much on the
doctrine of the Karika. We mentioned in passing 5 literal contents of these patterns, in the sense that
that we understood by "gunas " a triad in which every term should have its direct counterpart, or
rajas was a term, which later came to be called the correspondence of the entire triad must col-
three gunas, and which did not NECESSARILY com- lapse. In many cases it may be presumed fruit-
prise at its origin the other two gunas sattva and fully that the philosophoumena of the epic do not
tamas. We saw that the evidence has been pre- derive directly from those of the Vedic upanisads
served in the oldest stratum of the Moksadharma and the preceding Vedic literature, but that in
and was there soon misunderstood and corrupted, both we have developments, parallel or divergent,
and we concluded that these evolutionary " gunas "of a more original set of patterns that have been
must have been ancient; finally we suggested that elaborated upon in different milieux according to
their final disappearance was caused by the greaterthe demands and the mentality of each. This
appeal of the cosmic theory which inventorized,
does not have to mean that the history of certain
concepts or groups of concepts escapes all recon-
and later evolved, the world by five elements, akasa,
wind, fire, water and earth. struction, nor that this reconstruction should be
wholly conjectural. But we shall have to guard
We shall start our inquiry into the origins of
sattva with an inquiry into the origins of the against too simple explanations and too glib
evolutionary triad called " gunas." We have found generalizations: for, although there is a distinct
that this evolutionary triad is called "bhdvas" tendency in Indian thought to proceed from the
in the oldest portions of the Moksadharma in asimple to the elaborate, there is also a tendency
creation account where the buddhi, under the from the comprehensive to the specialized. There
influence of or with the assistance of the gunas, is a multivalency in more ancient thought which,
evolves into three successive phases of being or without ever being wholly lost, gives way to more
becoming, bhdvas, viz. manas, senses and elements.6
precise thought construction, and to emphasize a
If we should try to go beyond the epic evidence toposteriori certain definite valencies in earlier
search for corresponding doctrines or accounts, wethought is therefore not always justifiable.
should have to turn to the upanisads; when we do
Since Oltramare7 and Oldenberg8 we look for
so, we find we are not entirely without suggestive
the prototypes of the gunas in the upanisads of
clues, but it is immediately clear that we shall
have to reorient ourselves to some extent. the 8vetasvataras and of the Chandogas. A well-
known passage in SvetUp. 4, 5 describes an " un-
This reorientation when we pass from the earli-
born male " who copulates with an "unborn fe-
est post-Vedic evidence to the upanisads is always
male " and produces red, white and black creatures.
necessary and always difficult. Seldom do we find
This is clearly a reference-in my opinion a cor-
the concepts of the " epic age" in the same form
rective one-to similarly colored products de-
in the " Vedic age," or rather should we substitute
scribed in the creation account of ChUp. 6, where
"milieu" for age, for chronological priority of
an original being called sat produces tejas, dpas
Vedic to post-Vedic notions is not necessarily a
and annam which are the red, white and black
fact. On the other hand, there are so many points
forms (rupdni) of the world to be. It must how-
of contact that some sort of continuity cannoteverbe be noted that Indian commentatorial tradition
denied; still in many cases it is hazardous or even
is not of the same opinion. anfikara 9 and Rama-
4 ( Studies in Samkhya (I), An Old Text Reconsti- 7Paul Oltramare, L'histoire des idees theosophiques
tuted," JAOS, LXXVI (1956), pp. 153 ff.; and "do., II, dans l'Inde, vol. I (Paris, 1906), p. 240.
Ahamkara," JAOS, LXXVII (1957), pp. 15ff. Hermann Oldenberg, Die Lehre der Upanisaden und
JAOS, LXXVI, p. 1579. die Anfdnge des Buddhismus (G8ttingen, 19232), p. 186.
G MBh. 12, 187 etc. as reconstructed JAOS, LXXVI 9 ChUpBhasya 6, 2, 3; Sutrabhasya 2, 3, 10 (Poona ed.,
(1956), pp. 153ff. p. 272) beginning nanv itardpi srutir.
90 VAN BUITENEN: Studies in Sdmkchya (III)
nuja 10 both explain these three " elements" of meaning of BAUp. 1, 2 in another context,13 and
ChUp. 6 to be used pradarsandrtham, representing we must return to it now to enlarge on the myth of
the entire series of the five elements, if not the hunger and food. In this cosmogonic myth severa
other principles from Mahat down as well. But accounts are brought together which we must dis
important is at least that Samkhyan connections tinguish before we can discern what holds them
are being recognized. To my knowledge there is together.
only one epic passage where the identity of the This cosmogony begins: "Nothing at all was
three forms of ChUp. 6 and the three gunas of here at first. This world was enveloped by death
Samkhya is explicitly stated. MBh. 12, 291, 45 alone, that is by hunger. For death is starvation.
after a description of the gun.as continues: He conceived the desire: ' I may be myself.'" The
formula with which the cosmogony begins is stere-
suklalohitakrsnani riupany etdni triZ.i tu /
otyped. The " nothing-at-all" is, very concretely,
sarvdny etdni rupd.ni jdnihi prdkrtdni vai //
death, and this death is specified as starvation, so
Several points are worth noting: the use of rupadni that death is not an end but a beginning, the noth-
proves that the reference is indeed to ChUp. 6; the ing-at-all not a nothing-MORE but a nothing-YET.
emphasis on their prdkrta nature is curious but His creation starts with a desire, a manas,14 and
significant; and finally the reversion of the order the nothing-yet becomes someone, an atmanvin or
red-white, not a transposition for metrical rea- 'a being with a self to it,' on the strength of his
sons,11 is of some importance. desire. Thereafter creation is related in three
Starting from these correspondences-for what- different accounts.
ever they are worth-between the triad of the Account I reads: "He went about chanting.
gunas and the triad of raipas, Senart tried to Of his chanting the waters came to be. (He ex-
demonstrate that the original function of the claimed:) 'When I just chanted kam came to be.'
gunas was cosmic, and that these gunas originally This is the mysterious meaning of arka: kcam
referred to the three worlds. To the first view befalls him who knows this mysterious meaning of
I subscribe, with the added support of the epical arcka. Arka equals the waters. That which was the
bhdva doctrine, but with the reservation that the reed of the waters, that conglomerated and became
three gunas as a triad had this cosmic origin and the earth. On it he exhausted himself. Of his
not necessarily the three gunas sattva, rajas and exhausting himself, heating up himself, the essence
tamas by themselves. On the second view that the tejas came forth, that is fire." Whatever may be
gunas or rupas of the ChUp. account represent the the truth in his other remarks, Ruben is right in
three worlds a few remarks must be made. pointing out that "chanting is what the rain-
Although there is no doubt that from Vedic makers and brahmins did." 15 But Ruben does not
times on the three worlds, heaven, atmosphere and bring out the force of this point. For Starvation
earth played their part in cosmogony, there is also is really up to making rain and from his charms
clear evidence of a creation myth where world crea- the rains did come. The charms work and become
tion was not effected in space but in time. This rain, are therefore rain: dpo va arkah. These rains
creation in time was described concretely as the swell the rivers and the flotsam of reed borne
succession of the three seasons, summer, rains and down-stream forms the earth floating on the water.
harvest, in the course of which crop is produced to On this earth the Creator exhausts himself and
sustain creation. This is the significance of the secretes fire; the sexual symbolism is thinly dis-
equivalence: sa esa samtvatsarah prajdpatih 'the
Creator is the Year.' 12 We have touched on the lasya (sc. brahmano) vd etad rapam yat samvatsarah /
samvatsardt khalv imd.h prajdh prajdyante .. sam-
vatsaro vai prajdpatih / kdlo ' nnam brahmanidam dtmd
o0 ribhasya 2, 3, 1-14; cf. also my note in Rdmdnuja's
cety.
Veddrthasamgraha (Poona, 1956), translation 17.
11 One might, however, mention the rule that in a com- 13 JAOS, LXXVII (1957), p. 18.
pound the longer word follows the shorter one; but we 14 So already RV. 10, 129, 4.
shall see that there are excellent reasons why the second 1 Walter Ruben, Die Philosophen der Upanisaden
term of the triad, rajas, acquired the red color. (Bern, 1947), p. 123: ". .. sang Hymnen (wie die
'2E.g. atBr. 10,2,4,1; 2,6,1; 4,2,1; 11,1,1,1; primitiven Regenmacher und die Brahmanen taten) und
PrasnUp. 1,9; MaitrUp. 6,15 sa kdlah sakalah schuf damit
/ saka- die Wasser."
VAN BUITENEN: Studies in Sdm7chya (III) 91
guised: from the heat of exhaustion the rasa of they could be incorporated in this series of mystic
tejas (both words for the semen virile) pours instructions on and about the asvamedha? It is
forth. We remark that creation here is effected just this creation of food by a process in three
in three seasonal phases: starvation personified phases, stages or parts, which is the theme of
conjures up rain; earth conglomerates and takes account I where the esoteric significance of arca
shape; fire originates. That the waters are the was explained by exploiting the homonymy of arka
rains is evident from the floating reed which covers 'charm' and arka 'fire' and a mystic meaning
monsoon torrents. The rains swell the rivers. of kcam 'water' but also ' bliss.' This multivalent
Without rain, which makes new life possible, there arka is the sacrificial fire which is mysteriously
is famine and starvation; hence starvation must equivalent to the asvamedha by being the death
start creation by making rain, to produce crop and of the sacrificial horse-but a death to end all
sustain life.
death, for he who knows this equivalence is safe
from double-death.18
Account II starts from this tripartite creation
and inventorizes the world under three aspects. For anyone who lives in India the coming of
The Creator splits himself in three: himself, sun
the rains is the turning-point of the year. After
and wind. The same tripartition is also expressed
the elemental force of summer, sapping the re-
in "this prana is made triple," where an equiva-sources of man and nature, transforming the
lence atman =prdna "that which makes one plains a into bleak wasteland, the onset of the mon-
living being" is implicit. A different creation
soon is the dawn of life and creation. In the
myth, that of the Cosmic Person who constitutes
nothingness of the sky white clouds appear, in the
the world in different parts of his body,16 is forced
dry beds of almost forgotten rivers torrents come
into the pattern of tripartition, but not very suc-
down with a vital force that is at once frightening
cessfully. At the end there is a return to the and reassuring. Whatever the more remote asso-
theme of I: sa eso 'psu pratisthitah 'he is based
ciations of the primordial waters one hears about-
firmly upon the waters.'
the embryonic water in which the child is born,
Account III departs from the original desire:or the surface of the unconsciousness from which
I may be myself," and continues: " He desired: consciousness emerges-in India at least the
"There be a second self to myself." Through this waters of creation should represent principally the
desire he copulated with Vac, and that which was rains and the swelling rivers. The negation of
his semen became the year: for before then there existence before the rains come, real starvation,
had been no year. He bore it for as long as a year;gives way to a new vitality in man and nature;
after that long a time he delivered it. When it
fodder is plentiful, the plains are green, the crop
was born he opened his mouth to it: he emitted
is harvested. Life starts anew. Clearly the
the sound bhan and that sound became Vac. He
thinkers behind this starvation and creation myth
thought: "If I use my will upon it, I shall makeare not simply worshippers of hunger, as Ruben
a little food." So he created with this self of him-
calls them.19 Their myth is, as so often, a realistic
self by Vac all this, whatever there is, the hymnsaccount of the realities of their life. And one may
of rk, yajuh and saman, chandas, the sacrifices, wonder if the annual miracle of creation through
men and animals. Whatever he created he started
seasonal change was not the main inspiration of
to swallow." This "swallowing" is no doubt the
a creation myths where an original being creates
variation of what elsewhere is called "entering
the world in three stages, from the fierce promise
into it," 17 whereby the self-creation of the original
of summer through the fecundating waters to the
being is completed, and is directly comparable to abundance of harvest whose regions are sky, atmos-
sat's entering into the three rupas as a living beingphere and land. For when we now return to the
when food has been produced. The Creator, so to
creation account of ChUp. 6, we see that the tri-
speak, takes food and thereby starts the life of
partition of tejas, ipas and annam tallies exactly
creation, which is himself.
What holds these three accounts together so that " BAUp. 1,2,7 apa punarmrntyunm jayati lainain
mr!tyur ipnot: mr?tyur asyitmtaf bhavati devatdndim ko
61 IV. 10,90 etc. bhava ti.
7 ChUp. 6, 3, 2-3; TaittUp. 2, 6; see below.
' Philosophen, p. 123 " Verehrer des Hungers."
92 VAN BUITENEN: Studies in Sdmmkhya (III)
with the yearly succession of seasons. The evolu- sense of " dust, dirt" from raj-/ lag- 'to cling to.'
tion which takes place in time can be understood But he subscribes to the view that the guna rajas
much more easily in the terms of successive sea- is to be explained from the latter sense " dirt, etc."
sonal changes than in terms of the three cosmic Probably this view is founded on his opinion that
layers in which no priority is so immediately givenrajas ' (intermediate) space' ceases to occur after
as in the succession of summer, rains and harvest. Rg- and Atharvaveda; but this point is debatable.
The term annam in Uddalaka's account is not Granting even that in some cases it is difficult to
just prthivilaksa.nam, as Sanikara has it20-who, decide whether rajas means " atmosphere" or
as we saw, equates these three phases with thewhirling in the sky," there are a number of
" dust
classical five elements-, but just what it means: passages where the first meaning is clearly the
crop, rice, FOOD. The text leaves us in no doubt: right one. For instance BAUp. 5, 14, 3 athasya
tasmdd yatra kva ca varsati tad eva bhiyistham etad eva turiyam darsatam padam paroraja ya esa
annamn bhavati / adbhya eva tad adhy annddyam tapati .. paroraja iti sarvam u hy evaisa raja
jdyate.21 And just as Starvation, after creating upary upari tapati; when we consider that the first
three padas are, inter alia, represented by bhumir
the Year, starts to create with it " his second self,"
that is the world, his self-creation, so sat startsantariksam
to dyauh (14, 1), the interpretation of
parorajas 'beyond cosmic space' is clearly indi-
create the world (separating out names-and-forms)
after it has entered into tejas, the waters and In BAUp. 6, 3, 6 a meditation on bhargo
cated.
food.22 devasya dhimahi reads: madhu naktam utosasah /
We wondered if the evolution theories did not madhumat pdrthivam rajah / madhu dyaur astu
start from a vision of creation as SEASONAL crea- nah pita / bhuvah svdhd, where pdrthivarm rajas
tion, in three stages which corresponded to themeans either " the region of earth," or " above the
seasons or their functions and effects and through earth." Similarly rajas in MdahanarUp. 5, 8
and 12:
them with the regions where they are supposed to
operate. It is intriguing that in the earliest por-yat prthivyd rajah svam antarilcse virodasi /
tions of the Moksadharma the rival creation doc- imds tad dpo varunah pundtv aghamarsanah //
trine of the five elements is not yet an evolutionrajo bhumis tvamam rodayasva pravadanti dhirdh /
theory.
It was necessary to discourse on the ideas behind Such expressions cannot be separated from e.g.
the three rapas of the creation account in ChUp. 6 R.V. 7, 100, 5d ksayantam asya rajasah parake and
in order to appreciate Senart's view that tejas, similar formulae. The same explanation of rajas
apas and annam represent the three worlds and is often more appropriate in such compounds as
are prototypes of the three gunas sattva, rajas and
virajas- etc. than the usual renderings are; e.g.
tamas. The eminent French scholar has collected MBh. 12, 203, 34
materials to show that rajas has the meaning " at-

ete bhdvd jagat sarvam bhavanti sacaracaram /
mosphere ' rather than ' dust, dirt,' but his results srita virajasarn devan yam ahuh paramam
might now have to be reconsidered in the light of padam //
Burrow's recent study on the etymology of rajas.23
Burrow, dissatisfied with the traditional etymology"These forms of being comprise the entire world
of rajas which presupposes a meaning "darkof mobile and immobile beings; they rest on the
space," proposes, with a wealth of arguments, two god who is transcendent, whom they call the high-
new derivations for two homonyms rajas, one in point." 24
est
the sense of "space, expanse, intermediate space, I have found no evidence for the assumption
sky," from raj- 'to stretch, extend,' and one in the that the guna rajas derives from rajas "dirt"
with a shift of meaning " dirt" -* "moral defile-
20 To whom Senart refers; the passage is ChUp. 6, 2, ment,"
4 -- cosmic principle as Burrow assumes:
ta (sc. apas) annam as?janta prthivilaksanam / parthi- "this rajas in the sense of spiritual defilement
vanm hy annam. forms one of the gunas of the Samkhya system, at
21 ChUp. 6, 2, 6.
22 On the self-creation of sat see below. 24 Cf. also MundUp. 2,2,9 hiranmaye pare kose
23 T. Burrow, Sanskrit rajas, BSOAS, XII, p. 645. virajam brahma niskalam.
VAN BUITENEN: Studies in SImk7hya (III) 93
first a purely psychological division, later elevated sky, atmosphere' is the region of the " waters,"
to the status of cosmogonical principles." 25 To i. e. the clouds which rain and swell the rivers; the
be sure, there is ample evidence that rajas was color white (sukla-, but one can also think of the
given a psychological function and thus inter- "resplendent waters") ascribed to the waters
preted as raga, from raj-, "passionate attachment,' would fit the clouds of rajas very well.
which in its turn was linked up with another A similar correspondence tamas - annam is
raga, from another raj-, " red color," but the psy- much less commendable. Annam is called black,
chological function developed out of the cosmologi- and though we can think of the dark wet soil at
cal one. In this respect the epic bhdva doctrine the time of sowing, it is quite possible that the
is instructive: we see that the evolutionary black color has nothing to do with annam as such
C'gunas" effect external changes of the buddhi, but is simply the third in a triad of colors existing
into manas, senses and elements; the internal independently as a classification scheme which has
changes of sensations and emotions follow. When been brought into connection with the triad of
abiding in the manas, the buddhi enjoys happi- riipas because to some extent they tallied: tejas
ness; when abiding in the senses, the buddhi is red, dpas white, and therefore annam black. But
subject to the conflicting emotions of sensual life. this does not have to mean that therefore annam
Another distinction of nivrtti and pravrtti is re- stands for tamas. It seems to me that too much
lated to the mano- and indriyabhdva.26 has been made of these colors in the reconstruc-
It is true that in the bhdva doctrine the thinkers tion of the history of the gunas. The fact that
have already gone a long way towards an indi- later on we find the gunas likened to the white,
vidualization of cosmic creation processes; but that red and black threads (in this order) woven into
such processes lie at the root of the epic bhdva a piece of cloth does not mean that these colors
cosmogony cannot be denied. We concede that the derive directly from ChUp. 6. For all we know
direct evidence for the evolutionary and, by ex- red-white-black may have been a popular color
tension, cosmogonic origin of the gunas is slender; scheme in clothes 27 and the colors of the strands
but the evidence for an original psychological func- or threads (gunas) may have stuck to the threads
tion and a later elevation "to the status of cos- when these came to be used as a symbol of the
mogonical principles " is non-existent. universe into which three constituents are woven.
To sum up: Burrow's new views on rajas, for all The supposed connection of white with rajas was
the clarity they have brought to other uses of theat any rate soon dropped and, probably under the
term, do not invalidate Senart's view that rajas, pressure of the reinterpretation of rajas as raga
as guna, originally had the meaning "atmosphere." 'passion' combined with the supposedly identical
The fact that this older rajas fell into desuetude- rdga ' red color,' red was henceforth the color of
though we may differ about the " date "-certainly rajas, while the higher guna, no longer connected
contributed to the reinterpretation of this guna aswith the concrete fire of sun etc. but with light
"dust, dirt, defilement," though other factors, the and brightness generally, came to be described as
devaluation of created life and the forces thatwhite. For other uses to which this triad of colors
sustain it, played a more important role. was put we may compare the teaching of Aruna,
Although the correspondence rajas - apas, pro- the father of the Uddalaka of ChUp. 6, who dis-
posed by Senart, is not necessarily disproved if the cerned five rupas in the sun itself: red, white,
other correspondences, tejas-- sattva and annam black, ultrablack and the throbbing in the centre
_ tamas are shown to be untenable, yet the cumu- the sun: 28 evidently this pentad is built on the
of
lative evidence of all three correspondences would triad, and it shows that the triad was not at all
fixed in its connection. Besides there are other
surely carry more conviction; unfortunately, these
correspondences are far from clear. Certainly an series of colors in which also harita and pifgala
appear.29
equivalence or correspondence of rajas and apas
has much to commend itself: both occupy the same
27Ruben, Philosophen, p. 164 "gerade diese drei Far-
place in their triads; rajas 'intermediate space,
ben aber sind in alter Technik der Keramik and Webe-
kunst fiblich und in primitiven Mythologien belegt."
26 0. c., p. 469. 28 ChUp. 3,1-5.
26 The same adhyaya, MBh. 12, 187, 50. 29 E. g. ChUp. 8, 6, 1; BAUp. 4, 3, 20.
94 VAN BUITENEN: Studies in SdLkchya (III)
It is difficult, further, to show the cosmic origin suryas ca candramas caiva bhdsatas tapasa divi //
of tamas30 The ancient tamas, which is the pri- pratdpas tapaso jiinam loke sams'abditam tapah /
meval night of nothingness from which creation rajastamoghnam yat karma tapasas tat svalaksa-
appears, cannot really be quoted, because there is a nam //
vast difference in the creative roles of both notions
"i the universe is pervaded by tapas which shines
of tamas. To be sure, MaitrUp. 5, 2 makes an
from within; sun and moon in the sky borrow
attempt 31 to combine the guna tamas with the
their light from tapas. The light of tapas is
primeval tamas, but the combination is very forced
knowledge which is therefore known in the world
indeed. Moreover, the fact that in the systema-
as 'tapas.' The function of destroying rajas and
tized guna doctrine rajas and tamas belong to-
tamas is typical of tapas." It is clear from the
gether and the hypothesis that granted the equiva-
choice of words that both passages somehow belong
lence of rajas and apas, tamas and annam must
together. The introduction of rajas in the last
therefore also be equivalent, do not really follow,
line is quite unexpected, but in this passage a."
as Senart maintains. Sattva, rajas and tamas are
above in 209 the pair tapas-tamas is simply
really disparate terms, and an hypothesis based on
equated with the triad sattva, rajas and tamas with
their original coherence begs the question.
which both texts are mainly concerned: on 209, 1'
Neither sattva nor rajas in their central senses-
quoted above follows in similar terms:
even if one takes rajas 'dirt '-form a contrast
with tamas 'darkness.' But there is evidence of
sattvam rajas tamas ceti devdsuraguni.n viduh /
a tamas in a more easily understandable opposition
sattvam devagunam vidydd itarav dsurau gunau //
to tapas, darkness-light-- ignorance-knowledge.
If tapas, or rather the pratdpa of tapas, may have
MBh. 12, 209 (B. 216), 16 reads:
claims to an absolute character by being the re-
demptive
evam hi tapasa yu7tam arkcavat tamasah param / knowledge in ch. 210, its connection with
the gunas
trailokyaprak?'tir dehi tapasa tarn mahesvaram // brings it down to a lower level; so in
209, 19 it is said that there is something higher
tapo hy adhisthitac?m devais tapoghnam asurair
tamah // than sattva-rajas-tamas = tapas-tamas:
etad devasurair guptanm tad dhur jnidnalakcsanam //
brahma tat paramam vedyam amrtam jyotir aksa-
The first sloka, relatively lucid in the vulgate,32 ram
is /
obscure in the critical edition, but clearly theyetran-
vidur bhdvitdtmdnas te ydnti paramdm gatim //
scendence of the soul (which is here the under-
Generally, it would seem to me, tapas is higher up
lying cause of the universe) over this universe
in the is
hierarchy of notions than the sattva with
compared with that of tapas, represented by the
which it is juxtaposed here. Surely the pair tapas-
sun, over tamas; the cause of the soul's transcen-
tamas intrudes somewhat in our context, but it
dence is tapas "for tapas is ruled by theisgods,
clear that we here have another attempt to
whereas tamas, which destroys tapas, is ruled by
amalgamate more or less parallel series.
the asuras; that which is preserved by gods These
and incidental correspondences between tapas
asuras alike-apparently something higher and than
sattva hardly provides a basis for an equiva-
tapas-is called knowledge." This last knowl- lence tapas = sattva, apart from the fact that it
edge is also called tapas in 210 (B. 217), would entail an equivalence tamas = rajas-tamas,
for which however much more can be said.33 Even
trailotcyam tapasd vyiptam antarbhiitena bhdsvatd/
less of a foundation has the equivalence sattva
tejas which Senart suggests tentatively.34 The
o0 I. e. tamas as the third guna.
31 Tamo vd idam agra dsit etc. symmetry and synonymy of the triads of the gunas
32 This reads in d. tamaso 'nte mahesvarah, so that and the triad of the rupas in ChUp. 6 are indeed
the translation runs: "for the (manas of st. 15), when far from being "perfectly established." A cor-
possessed of tapas, shines forth like the sun beyond
tamas: the embodied soul, whose prakrti is constituted 33 See below.
by the universe, is the supreme lord when the tamas has 34 Emile Senart, "La theorie des gunas et la Chan-
been passed "; for the "end of tamas," cf. ChUp. 7,26,2dogya Upanisad," in Etudes asiatiques (= jubilee vol-
quoted below. ume of BEFEO; Paris, 1925), p. 287.
VAN BUITENEN: Studies in Sarmkhya (III) 95
responde:nce rajas, -tapas is possible, certainly; ato insist that each and every term has its corr
correspondence tamas -annzam has no other spondent. Better results might be had when w
ground than the black color which suits tamas butstudy the gunas themselves, while constantly keep
is attributed to annam; now to assume an equiva- ing in mind the triadic pattern to which th
lence sattva = tejas because of the " perfect sym- belong at one stage and to which they need no
metry and synonymy" of the other terms is really have belonged originally. The multivalency par
taking too much for granted. ticularly of sattva even in Samkhyan contex
The equivalence of sattva and tejas, which leads us to expect that the study of this concep
Senart suggests only tentatively, is taken forcovering a wider field and so providing more ev
proved by Przyluski. This scholar accepts 35 with-dence, may help us to clarify at least part of th
out question the identity of the three gunas withproblem more satisfactorily.
the three cosmic worlds of sky, atmosphere and In dealing with the many meanings of sattv
earth as deduced by Senart from the supposedwe shall confine ourselves mainly to those whic
symmetry of gunas and ruipas. He then compares the term has in proto-Samkhyan contexts. As f
ChUp. 2, 23, 3-4 where PrajSpati, by using hisas I am able to judge these meanings are 1. sattv
creative power of tapas on the worlds, produces the as the material counterpart of the ksetrajia; 2.
three Vedas, and by using his tapas on the Vedas the buddhi; 3. as a bhdva of the buddhi; 4. as a
produces the sounds bhuh, bhuvah and svah. This state of well-being amounting to release; 5. as th
of course is a variant of the story where Prajapatifirst of the three gunas.
It is a curious fact that in one Moksadharma
creates the worlds by articulating these three
sounds, with the addition of the well-known tapastext no less than three of the above meanings of
of other creation accounts. But Przyluski, operat- sattva occur, the first three. The text is 12, 187
ing with the principle of "symmetry" which by= 239-240, according to Frauwallner 37 the epische
now has become a law, concludes from this ChUp. Grundform of Sainkhya, though I would hesitate
to subscribe to this scholar's view that our text is
2 text to a series tapas + three worlds; then since
there is a series sat + three rupas and a series ofkclar und folgerichtig.
three gunas, he substitutes everything for every- Sattva as counterpart of ksetrajia and sum-
thing else and arrives at a series tapas-tejas- total of world creation occurs in the following
stanzas :
rajas-tamas, the only virtue of which seems to
be that now we have four neuters in -as. Depart- sattvaksetrajnayor etad antaramn pasya sukcs-
ing from the " gunas " tejas etc. but failing to find mayoh /
a clear line of development from these "cosmic srjate tu gundln elca eko na srjate gundn //
gunas" to the classical gunas, he turns for an 187, 37
explanation to the Iranian Ohrmazd, Mithra and
" understand that sattva and ksetrajia, which are
Ahriman, to explain which he turns to the Baby-
both subtle principles, differ in this that the former
lonian cosmology of heaven, earth and sea. These creates the elements and the latter does not."
remote analogies occasion an etymology of guna
- Aw. gaona "'poil' et par extension 'couleur na gunat vidur &tmanar.z sa gunan vetti sarvasah /
paridrastd gunanam ca sa.nsrastd manyate sadd //
de poil, couleur,'" Such methods of course fail to
40
carry any conviction.
"the elements do not know the atman, but he
With this criticism of the attempts by two emi-
nent scholars to reconstruct the early history knows
of the elements always; he is the observer of
the elements, but always imagines that he is their
the gunas we do not mean to convey that the riipas
creator."
of ChUp. 6 and the gunas have nothing to do with
each other,36 but that we should be very careful
s!'jate hi gunin sattva?.n ksetraj2nah paripasyati /
when we discover corresponding triadic patterns
samprayogas 38 tayor esa sattvaksetrajnayor
dhruvah // 42
S5 J. Przyluski, "La th4orie des guna," BSOAS, VI
(1931), pp. 25 ff.; and "La loi de symetrie dans la 37 Erich Frauwallner, Geschichte der indischen Phi-
Chandogya-Upanisad," BSOAS, V, esp. pp. 491 ff. losophie, Band I (Salzburg, 1953), ch. 6, p. 292.
38 A well-attested variant reads viprayogah 'differ-
86 The sequel will show how near our own studies will
lead us to Senart's conclusions. ence.'
96 VAN BUITENEN: Studies in Sdm7chya (III)
"for the sattva creates the elements whereas the The same sattva we recognize in Carakasamhita,43
sarlrasthana 1, 47:
kcsetrajia looks on: this is the invariable relation-
ship between sattva and ksetrajia."
bhavas tesdm samudayo nirlsah sattvasamjnakah /
asrayo nJsti sattvasya kcsetrajnasya ca kascana / bhokctd na sa pumdn iti Icecid vyavasthitdh //
kartd
sattvam manah samsrjati na gundn vai kaddcani //
"one school maintains these principles and their
43
origination, without a divine creator, which is
"there is no further cause of either sattva or called sattva; as well as a purusa who is neither
ksetrajia; 39 sattva creates the manas . . ." agent
40 nor recipient." This can only mean that
sattva is the cause of the elements and as such
Compare also 228, 31cd: opposed to the kcsetrajn-a who is not really involved
in creation and its effects.
sattvam ksetrajia ity etad dvayam apy anudarsi-
tam / Another meaning of sattva lies near that of
buddhi. It is already announced in KathUp. 6
A similar meaning of sattva as comprising the (-2, 3), 7:
whole of creation is found in the Samkya of Arada
indriyebhyah param mano manasah sattvam utta-
as described by Asvaghosa in his Buddhacarita 41
mam /
12, 17:
sattvdd adhi mahdn dtmd mahato 'vyakctam utta-
prakcrtis ca vickaras ca janma mrtyur jaraiva ca / mam //
tat tdvat sattvamn ity uktam sthirasattva parehi
tat // "beyond the senses is the manas, beyond the
manas the sattva, beyond the sattva the great
dtman, beyond the great one the unevolved." One
"evolvent and evolute, birth, old age and death
is instantly reminded of BhG. 3, 42 where the
sum up sattva: so it is taught; go beyond it, 0
constant One." 42 hierarchy reads: senses-manas-buddhi---atman,
and of the bhdva doctrine where the purusddhi-
The following stanzas 18-19 describe prakrti and
sthitd buddhih evolves manas and senses, as well
vikcra, whereupon 20 continues: as of in the same chapter (187, 37 quoted above)
the statement that sattva creates the manas. The
asya ksetrasya vijnindt ksetrajna iti samjii ca /
same correspondence, if not actually equivalence,
of sattva and buddhi is evident in MBh. 12, 203, 33
where asya csetrasya evidently resumes sattva.
The term recurs in 23: manah sattvagunam prdhuh sattvam avyaktajam
tatha /
ajinnam karma trsnd ca jneyah samsdrahetavah /
"manah is a product of the sattva, the sattva
sthito 'smin tritaye jantus tat sattvam nativartate
// derives from the avyakta."
How are we to account for these different func-
"ignorance, act and desire are known as the causes tions of sattva (1) as creator and creation, (2) as
of continued existence; so long as man takes his the buddhi? They are not really different: pri-
stand on these three he will not overcome the above
mary is the function of buddhi which is the evolv-
sattva."
ent of the "psychical" organs manas and senses
and the material elements, which together consti-
91I would prefer this rendering to that of Deussen-
tute world creation. In these early forms of
Strauss, Vier philosophische Texte des Mahdbhdratam
(Leipzig, 1906), in B. 194,44; p. 184: "das Sattvam Samkhya creation does not necessarily start from
und der Ksetrajfna haben keine gemeinschaftliche Basis."a higher principle than the buddhi,44 e. g. avyaklta,
40 The fourth pada is obviously corrupt; we expect:
"sattva creates the manas and the further evolutes," as 43 Ed. V. K. D&tar (Bombay, 1922).
in S7; cf. Belvalkar's note on 187, 43. 44 I do not propose to enter here into a discussion of
1 Edited and translated by E. H. Johnston, 2 vols. buddhi/manas etc., which deserve a separate mono-
(Calcutta, 1933-36). graph; but on the whole it is clear that both terms
42 On sthirasattva, see below. reflect the original "self-recognition" and "desire" to
VAN BUITENEN: Studies in Sdlckhya (III) 97
pradhdna or prakrti, but from the buddhi itself; "then there is a further element known, the
nor has the ahamkdcra yet taken over the evolu- twelfth one (sc. after 10 senses and 11th manas),
tionary functions of the buddhi. As the buddhi called buddhi, by which the person decides about
sattva is indeed creation and thus the 'material' things to be known which could not be resolved
counterpart of the unaffected ksetrajna. It is byjust
the preceding means of knowledge. Beyond
this creatorship of the buddhi which is the theme this twelfth one there is a further element called
of the entire chapter 187, not only in the bhdva sattva, by which a person is judged to be mahd-
doctrine or in the slokas on sattva quoted above, sattva or alpasattva." We shall discuss the sug-
but also in odd slokas such as 16-17: gested relation between ?sattva and sattva as the
element later on; our chief interest here is that the
gunain neniyate buddhir buddhir evendriydiny apielement
/ sattva is listed between buddhi and aham-
manahsasth&ni sarvani buddhyabhdve kuto gundih kdra and that it can only continue the above sattva.
// In this connection Carakasamrhita, suftrasthana
iti tanmayam evaitat sarvam sthdvarajahgamam / 1, 46 deserves mention:
praliyate codbhavati tasmdn nirdisyate tathd //
sattvam dtmdi sariram ca trayam etat tridandavat /
' the buddhi precedes the evolutes 45 completely: lokas tisthati samyogdt tatra sarvam pratisthitam
the buddhi alone precedes all five senses with the //
sixth sense manas: how could there be evolutes if sa pumdn cetanam tac cddhikaranam smrtam /
the buddhi did not exist? Therefore this entire vedasydsya tadartham hi vedo 'yam samprakdsitah
universe with mobile and immobile creatures is //
made of the buddhi (in which) it has its origin
" sattva, the &tman and the body are a triad like a
and its end; therefore it is thus described."
trident, by their combination the world exists: the
The approximation of buddhi and sattva is the
universe is based upon it; it constitutes the purusa,
result of the coalescence of parallel doctrines whichwhich is the knowing principle: and that is the
listed these entities high up in their hierarchies ofqualification for the Veda, for the Veda has been
evolution, sometimes starting evolution from it, revealed for his sake." The commentator equates
sometimes not. In one context this coalescence
sattvam here with manas in a general sense, and
may have been more complete than in others.Johnston In- suggests cetana or buddhi.47
teresting is the usage of a cumulative term in the
The MaitrUp. knows two sattvas besides the first
Yogasutrabhasya pointed out by Johnston: 46 bud-
dhisattva in the sense of buddhi: this strikes us guna which also occurs, and both are quoted in
apparently ancient slokas. MaitrUp. 6, 38 reads:
as a comprehensive formula summarizing the
agnihotram juhvdno lobhajdilam bhinatty atah
identical functions of both terms. Elsewhere how-
sammoham chittvd na krodhdn stunvdnah kdmam
ever both principles stand side by side as in the
late MBh. 12, 308, 103-4: abhidhydyamdnas tatas caturjalam brahmakcosam
bhindad atah paramdcas'am atra hi saurasaumy-
dvddasas tv aparas tatra buddhir ndma gunahdgneyasdttvikani ma.ndaldni bhittvd tatah suddhah
smrtah / sattvdntarastham acalam acyuta.m dhruvazi visnu-
yena samsayapurvesu boddhavyesu vyavasyati // samjnitam sarvdparam. dhdma satyakdmasarva-
atha dvddasacae tasmin sattvam ndmdparo gunah / jnatvasamyuktam svatantram caitanyam sve ma-
mahasattvo 'Ipasattva va jantur yendnumlyate // himni tisthamdnam pasyati / atroddharanti-
ravimadhye sthitah somah somamadhye hutada-
become a person or sat of the unreified creator who nah /
(which) was asat or avyakta; for a few remarks on
this point see below. tejomadhye sthitam sattva.m sattvamadhye sthito
45 Note this meaning of guna; renderings like "prod- 'cyutah //
uct, element, evolute, constituent" are approximations:
guTra denotes all at once; the term deserves further "while offering the agnihotra, he breaks through
study, cf. also Senart, "Rajas et la theorie indienne des
the net of greed; having torn through perplexity,
trois gunas"; Johnston, Early Sdr.khya, p. 30.
40 . c., p. 50. 7 0. ., p. 51.
98S VAN BUITENEN: Studies in Sdmkhya (III)
not praising the forms of anger and concentrating tasmai mrditackasdydya tamasah paramn darsayati
on desire, he then pierces the fourfold whorl of bhagavan sanatkumdrah " when the taking of food
brahman and thence into supreme space; in that has been purified, the sattva becomes pure; when
whorl he breaks through (these four) concentric sattva has been purified, the recollection is secure;
layers formed by sun, moon, fire and sattva, and whnb the recollection has been secured, all bonds
then, being purified, beholds the one within will be loosened. Thus did the venerable Sanat-
sattva, immovable, indestructible, called Visnu, kuminra show Narada, cleansed of all impurity, the
all-highest splendor, the isolated spirit endowed end of tamas." The dhdrasuddhi is surely the
with the power of having all his desires realized rcsilt of a special regulation in taking food, a
and with the power of omniscience, and abiding in tapas, and smrti corresponds to manas. Interest-
his own transcendence.48 On this they cite: ing is the opposition of tamas, the darkness of
"within the sun is moon, within the moon is fire,ignorance and impurity. At a later point we shall
within the fire is sattva, within the sattva the In- try to narrow down the meaning which sattva has
destructible." Evidently a yoga process is de- here; at this point it suffice to note the yogic
scribed here. In lobha, sammoha, krodha and association of the term.
perhaps kdma we recognize functions of rajas and Leaving aside for the moment the third meaning
tamas. The brahma7cosa is the flower-cup of the of sattva we distinguished, sattva as the first bhdva
mystic lotus in the centre of which is a space sur--the manobhava-of the buddhi, and concentrat-
rounded by a whorl of four concentric layers of ing now on the fourth, sattva as a state of well-
leaves; these four mandalas are connected with sun being tantamount to release, we will consider the
etc. in a light symbolism that is typical of the following evidence. In the closest relation to the
speculations about the mystic lotus. Sattva, we functions described above we meet the term in this
note, is a higher principle than tejas, it is the last meaning in such texts as MBh. 12, 245, 3:
screen or the first covering, and when this inner-
pratirupam yathtaivdpsu tipah siryasya laksyate /
most layer is pierced the highest spirit-who is a sattvavdans tu tatha sattvam pratirupam prapa-
person-within the inner space is beheld in mystic
syati /
contemplation.
MaitrUp. 4, 3 describes the pratividhir bhitd- "just as the light of the sun is seen reflected in
tmanah "the rule by which to counter the bhii- water, so the one who is possessed of sattva sees
tdtman " 49 and quotes: the sattva reflected"; and 4:
tapasd prdpyate sattvam sattvat sa.mprapyatetdni sujksmdni sattvasthd vimuktdni sariratah /

manah / svena (tattvena) tattvajndh pasyanti niyatendri-
manasah prapyate hy dtmd yam dptvd na nivartate ya //i
// "those who are firm in sattva and know the tattvas
"by the performance of tapas one reaches sattva, see these subtle tattvas released from the body by
from sattva the manas, from manas the atman, virtue of their own (tattva or sattva) when they
having attained which one does not return." This have subdued the senses." The sattva here appears
is apparently a different sattva which we can con- as that subtle stuff of which release is made; it is
nect with the sattva of ChUp. 7, 26, 2: dhdrasud- transcendent and must be attained by a process
of yoga. Important is the reflection of sattva
dhau sattvasuddhih sattvasuddhau dhruvd smrtih
smrtilambhe sarvagranthindan vipramoksah /which may be compared with the reflection of the
soul in matter, the abhimana strictly speaking;
48 Cf. texts like ChUp. 8, 1, 1 atha yad idam asmin there is a plurality of tattvas which can exist apart
brahmapure daharam pundarikam vegma daharo 'sminn from the body and apparently constitute the
antar dkdsah / tasmin yad antas tad anvestavyam tad sattva.50 But it is not the same as the soul, it is
vdva vijijhdsitavyam . . 5 etat satyam brahmapuram
[" this fortress of brahman (= body creation) is real ":0 The subtle elements (tattvdni) may be compared
cf. note 72 below on tat satyam] asmin kdmdh samd- both to the suksma?arira and to such elements as tejas
hitdh / esa dtmd . . satyakdmah satyasamkalpah. etc. in which the sat of ChUp. 6 primarily subsists. I
'9"The embodied, elemental dtman," the material should prefer to read sattvena for tattvena, though the
world. distinction is very slight as the above remark shows.
VAN BUITENEN: Studies in Sdm.khya (III) 99
the soul's state of release; nor yet is it the buddhi, belong to the same category altogether. Instruc-
but beyond it (cf. 8). But in a comparable pas- tive is the quoted MaitrUp. 6, 38 where functions,
sage sattva does to some extent correspond to the later (or elsewhere) ascribed to rajas and tamas
buddhi: 12, 238, 9-10: (lobha, sarmmoha etc.) appear as obstacles in a
yogic process of integration in which the last and
hitvd tu sarvasammkalpdn sattve cittarm nivesayet /
decisive step is to overcome sattva: but between
sattve cittam samdvesya tatah kalamjaro bhavet //
these r&jasa and tdmasa obstacles and sattva many
cittaprasddena yatir jahdti hi subhdsubham /
other principles intervene. Interesting is also
prasanndtmdtmani sthitvd sukham dnantyam as-
MBh. 12, 246, 9 ff. where the body is compared to
nute //
a town in which the buddhi holds sway; the manas
"having given up all desires (a function of the is the executive (arthacintaka), the senses are the
manas) the yogin must bring the spirit in sattva; people. In this town rage two virulent diseases,
having brought the spirit in sattva he will become rajas and tamas, which undermine authority and
a kdlamjara ascetic.51 By virtue of the serenity of drag buddhi and manas down to the level of the
his spirit the yogin gives up both good and evil senses. Sattva is absent here, but it is undoubt-
karman, and, with complete tranquillity abiding edly represented by the buddhi as the transcendent
in the atman, he attains bliss and infinitude." One authority. Similarly 217, 10-11:
may hesitate to equate citta with manas or with ye tv evarm ndbhijdnanti rajomohapardyandh /
buddhi, but buddhi seems definitely preferable, for te kcrcchram prdpya sidanti buddhir tye.samt pra-
serenity is a quality of the buddhi rather than of nasyati //
the manas: sattva thus becomes the serenity itself, buddhildbhe hi purusah sarvarm nudati kilbisam /
free from all disturbances. Similarly 205, 29: vipdpmd labhate sattvam sattvasthah samprasidati
tasmdd dtmavatd varjyam rajas ca tama eva ca / //
rajastamobhyd.m nirmuktam sattvam nirmalatdm "those who do not know this, being absorbed in
iydt // rajas and tamas (= moha), find misery and de-
"therefore the yogin must give up both rajas and cline, (for) their buddhi decays.52 When a person
tamas, so that his sattva, freed from rajas and has gained the buddhi, he wipes off all impurity:
tamas, becomes spotless." being free from evil he gains sattva and as a
sattvastha he is in a state of perfect serenity."
In some of the above instances we may hesitate
Here again we notice how close buddhi and sattva
in deciding whether sattva is indeed the released
state of the soul or the condition for release. Yet
are: sattva is the unaffected state of the buddhi,
free from rajas and tamas. Similarly rajas and
when we compare the unequivocal statements of
tamas appear in 206, 1:
later date that all three gunas must be overcome
if release is ever to be achieved, it is clear that *tamasd sddhyate moho *rajasd ca nararsabha /
the above instances convey a different position: krodhalobhau bhayam darpa etesdm tsddhandc
emphasis is on the purification of sattva, not on chucih //
the subduing of it. One thing becomes increas-
ingly clear from the evidence marshalled above: "moha results from tamas, and wrath and greed,
the sattva which at certain times and in certain fear and conceit from rajas; 53 by subduing them 54
one becomes pure." And if sattva is described in
contexts shows distinct correspondences with the
buddhi cannot be separated from the sattva which 12 as tamasi samsthitam, just as rajas is tamasi
becomes associated with the gunas rajas and tamas.
paryastam, this does not put all of them in the
same class, for tamas may be so opposed to both
Nor is this sattva an entirely "material" entity.
An important consequence is that sattva on the onesattva and rajas. Elsewhere we have brought out
hand and rajas and tamas on the other hand do not
52 Belvalkar marks yesam doubtful; at any rate testdm
seems preferable.
5 Deussen-Strauss translate: "wird man [unerschiit- 53The editions, including Cr. Ed., read rajasd . . .
terlich wie] der Berg Kalafijara werden," but it seemstamasd which should be transposed.
preferable to read here a reference to theory and practice
"4Belvalkar marks sddhandc doubtful; I translate
of yogins associated with this mountain or region. sddandc from the variants.
100 VAN BUITENEN: Studies in Samkhya (III)
the significance of the fact that in this adhyaya transcendent aspect of the buddhi.55 These ob-
rajas is connected with the senses: this connection stacles and opposites to the "transcendent," that
might on the part of sattva imply a similar con- is released, buddhi are further on summarized
nection with buddhi or cetas, which after the fore- under avidya, which is described in st. 33:
going discussions has nothing remarkable.
ity avidydm hi vidvdn ca pancaparvdim samihate /
Frequently one gets the impression that rajas tamo moham mahdmoha.m tdmisradvayam eva ca //
and tamas form really ONE collective concept com-
prising between them all obstacles to release and "the expert claims that ignorance is fivefold, viz.
so form together an antithesis to sattva. Helpful tamas, moha, mahdmoha, tdmisra and andhatd-
is a comparison with Arada's Samkhya. Some misra." These are the same five divisions that are
scholars have made a problem out of the fact that enumerated in the Karika under viparyaya 'ig-
Asvaghosa does not include the "gunas" in his norance.' We note that all five are synonyms or
description, that means: the gunas in the number, near-synonyms of tamas: moha replaces tamas
nomenclature, meaning and function they have in regularly. BhagPur. 3, 20,18 uses mah&tamas for
the Karika and in other " official" Samkhya texts. mahamoha.56 But we note also that in the subse-
But if we are to suspect Asvaghosa of unfair deal- quent description of these terms not only tdmasa
ing, so we should suspect the many authors of the qualities are summed up, but also typically rdjasa
Moksadharma who omit these gunas. The gunas ones, i. e. qualities etc. which in the doctrine of
in their classical functions obviously were not an the three gunas are classified not under tamas but
invariable feature of a unitary Samkhya " system." under rajas.57 In other words, side by side with
We have shown that the relation between aham- the dual division of rajas and tamas we find one
kara and gunas is secondary; avyakta, oftencomprehensive
the complex of tamas which itself is
vehicle of the gunas is mentioned in passing by subdivided into five classes indicated by
again
Arada and then forgotten: in fact its role in variations on the word tamas.
epical Samkhya is far from universal. Besides, What, then, is the relation between rajas / tamas
the introduction of the role of the gunas as uni- and the five-fold tamas? If we accept Senart's
versal constituents is comparatively late. Thisview, corroborated by epical evidence for such a
does not mean that it was a late invention: we
function, that rajas started its career as a cosmo-
believe, and we have shown arguments, that the
logical entity, and explain the later oblivion of that
doctrine of the three gunas as cosmic magnitudes function partly from the early obsolence of rajas
-from which function they derive their character 'space, atmosphere' as Burrow has shown and its
of constituents-and the doctrine of the prakrtis simultaneous reinterpretation as rajas 'dirt' com-
originally were competing theories, and only
bined with raga 'passion,' it is easy to see how
in our oldest texts do we see them side by this
side,rajas,
to which was from of old associated with
be followed by the almost exclusive presence of
the buddhi, came to be identified with some of
the prakrtis in various stages of development.
the qualities so far listed under tamas, viz. kama,
Arada, we note, adheres to the eight prakrtis.
lobha, rdga and krodha, dvesa. Under this hy-
Therefore the only situation where the absence ofwe are able to account for all the different
pothesis
the gunas might legitimately cause surprise and
functions of rajas we have encountered. We may
even suspicion would be with and around the state the entire hypothesis as follows.
buddhi, for just with the buddhi do the gunas, in
Rajas originally was a cosmic entity, " sky, at-
any function, have the most persistent connections.
mosphere," between earth and sun/sky as the
And there is it precisely that we find them. Sattva,
second in a triad of earth, atmosphere and heaven.
we saw, appears as the sum-total of body and These three worlds at one point came to be re-
psyche, in other words as the buddhi and its crea-
tion, and includes the obstacles to release: avidyd, 65 See below.
karma, desire (st. 23). But in the same stanza 56 In Viniu Pur. 1, 6, 41 tdmisra and andhatdmisra are
names of hells.
the punning vocative sthirasattva (cf. mahdsattva, 67Viz. in 12,34 mahdmohas tv asamimoha kdma ity
alpasattva MBh. 12, 308,104) shows that the eva gamyatdm, and 36 tdmiAram iti cdkrodha krodham
author was aware of sattva in a sense related to the evddhikurvate.
VAN BUITENEN: Studies in Sdmkchya (III) 101
garded as stages in a process of world creation, times called tapas, which was in fact a state of
probably under the influence of speculations which release or from the point of view of creation a
described creation as a succession of seasons with transcendent state, and three stages of increasing
sun/summer, atmosphere/clouds-rains, earth/har-deterioration, tusti, asakti and viparyaya or avidyd,
vest and also under the influence of the creation- of which the last stage, the complete opposite of
by-formulation of the names and things bhi.h enlightenment, was subdivided into five categories
bhuvah svah.58 In circles which we may associate with names which are variations of the tamas that
with the names Samkhya and Yoga, where the is occasionally met as the antithesis of tapas and
principal interest was centered on the way to re- sattva. The three " moods" of the buddhi in the
lease which is implicit in any evolution theory of more old-fashioned doctrine, once their basis in a
creation, the old conception of a cosmic person who tripartite creation had been given up, assimilated
creates the world as his body (a conception that themselves to these four stages. The second term
also underlies the more "naturalistic" creation in their triad, rajas, which gradually must have
accounts as the self-creation of some originalbeen be- reinterpreted as " dirt, defilement, passion"
ing) was developed according to the same triadic when not only its old meaning "intermediate
pattern, but with a more advanced and above all " but also its function of cosmic factor of
space
pronouncedly MICROcosMIC aspect: this purusa creation became obsolete, attracted those quali-
created the world from his buddhi in three direct ties etc. among the tamas complex which accorded
evolutions, manas, senses and elements. But morewell with its supposed passionate character: raga
or less contemporaneously, perhaps a little later, etc. and its opposite kcrodha etc. To the third
the process of creation came to be described differ- term, " tamas " or whatever they called the entity
ently: the world had been inventoried under 7 or 8 which once as " earth " corresponded to rajas
principles, and this inventory itself became an ' atmosphere,' were left those qualities of "inac-
evolution theory, though of a different pattern: thetion, insensibility, stupefaction, unconsciousness"
horizontal pattern of one being or cause which be-which accorded with its character of inanimate
comes three effects successively-the old triadic nature. Thus the tamas complex was reformed
scheme-gave way to a vertical pattern where the into a dual rajas-tamas complex in those milieux
first effects the second, the second the third etc.where memories of a triadic buddhi lingered; other
This pattern replaced the horizontal pattern almost circles, as that of Arada, which remained un-
completely: the reason was undoubtedly the greater touched by the renovations of those who had just
flexibility of the vertical pattern which allowed the abandoned a position they had given up long
addition of new principles for which a need wasbefore, continued with a single tamas complex.
felt. Here and there, especially around the crea- This hypothesis may appear quite circumstantial
tion of manas, senses and elements, the old triadicbut does not assume more than what, in different
scheme persisted and upset the vertical order ofphases of our inquiry, we had fair to excellent
descent in the doctrines of those who attempted to reasons to accept. As far as I can see, it accounts
synthetize various theories, e. g. the author of the for the known facts about rajas: its old function
KErika; but the buddhi lost his function of sole " atmosphere " which Senart has shown to be con-
creator though it retained the three " moods " that nected with the guna rajas and which must have
were the reflections of its three creations on its at had its place in a triad sky/atmosphere/earth, or
first pure and unaffected self. Elsewhere in summer/rains/harvest; the recurring connection
milieux, one may presume, where the vertical pat- of rajas with the senses and no such recorded con-
tern of the seven or eight principles had first been nection of tamas with the senses; the function of
developed, these affections of the buddhi (if that tamas in the single tamas complex where it com-
was how they called the same principle) were de-prises typically rajasa elements; and the transition
scribed in an entirely different manner: they dis- of rajas "atmosphere" to rajas/raga. To be sure,
tinguished a pure state of enlightenment, some- the historical picture has become more and more
complex, but this was only to be expected: if all
s8 In the Kalagnirudra Up. however rajas appears inthe facts were known, our explanation would cer-
a series with bhirloka, sattva with antariksa, tamas tainly be found to err on the side of simplicity
with dyaurloka!
rather than complexity. There must have existed
102 VAN BUITENEN: Studies in Sdmnkhya (III)
scores and scores of more or less isolated little rajas, sattva. In other words, the buddhi heads
two series: that of the prakrtis, buddhi, manas,
centers where parallel doctrines were being evolved
out of a common source. Occasional meetings ether
at and the other elements, and that of the
pilgrimages and festivals, reports from otherguna
andtriad, while this triad also occurs by itself.
remote dsramas brought by wandering ascetics,In the sequel we find a rather desperate attempt
polemic encounters with other preachers mustto include as many series as were known to the
have
resulted in a laborious process of partial renova-
author: sight-color: nose-smell: ear-sound: tongue-
taste:
tion and conservation, more precise definitions of body-touch: wind: ether: moha: tamas;
lobha: riches; this series is not difficult to follow,
doctrines and eclecticism, readjustments of termi-
nology etc. At this stage to credit these with
little
its side-by-side enumeration of the elements,
centers with the name "schools" is to do them
the senses and the visesas, which are followed
too much, or too little, honor. Among those significantly
who by rajas (represented by lobha) and
tamas
recognized one another's doctrines as related, as the gunas associated with senses and ele-
nor-
ments. But then follows confusion: strides:
malization prevailed with all the inconsistencies
and syncretism of which the final doctrines Visnu;
show bala: Sakra; belly: fire (sc. vaisv&nar
traces. We had a glimpse of them when we goddess
dis- (= earth): waters: tejas: wind: ether
cussed the Karika doctrine of ahamkara. Most of mahat: buddhi: tamas: rajas: sattva: dtman:
the process must elude us necessarily, but we standNarayana: moksa, which is syncretism at its worst
Then follow the lines:
a better chance of recovering the little that is left
by allowing for the greatest diversity, rather than
the greatest uniformity of doctrine. jnitva sattvayutam deham vrta.m sodasabhir
gunaih /
If we now return to sattva, we realize that the
svabhavam cetanam caiva jnatva vai deham dsrite
great diversity of its functions and meanings will//
also be due to a long process of doctrinal and termi-
madhyastham ekam dtmanam papam yasmin na
nological readjustments and maladjustments. Onlyvidyate /
in part can we account for them as stages of dvitiyamr
his- karma vijniya nrpate visayaisindm //
torical development of the concept. A concept so
vaguely defined by the literal meaning of its name "knowing that the body is possessed of sattva and
is likely to be used in increasingly different contexts.
enveloped by 16 gunas, and that both svabhdva
To force its functions into one line of evolution
(prakrti) and cetana (buddhi) rest on the body,
would be to simplify unreasonably. But weand maythat inside the body there is the one atman in
attempt to show why just this sattva could acquire which no evil is found, and knowing secondly the
at times quite antithetical meanings. icarman of those who strive after the sense-objects,
O lord.." To bring order here seems hopeless,
We have suggested more than once that the
evolution doctrine of the buddhi with the three but conspicuous are the uncertainty of the position
of the triad vis-a-vis the 7 prakrtis and the im-
" gunas " and that of the buddhi with the prakrtis
were to some extent competing theories which portance
after in the quoted slokas of sattva which seems
a probably long drawn process of amalgamation to sum up the 16 gunas and is therefore the body
as a whole-including prakrti and cetana--and
finally coalesced, though not invariably. Interest-
that within which the one dtman resides untouched.
ing is in this connection the description of a Sam-
Apparently the author or authors are at a loss how
khya doctrine in MBh. 12, 290,14 ff. Here a
to combine the triad with the prakrtis and prob-
number of principles are enumerated as follows:
ably also the last sattva with the guna sattva; it
sattva with ten gunas (dasagu.naka), rajas 9,
is tempting to seek the cause of the confusion in
tamas 8, buddhi 7, manas 6, ether 5, buddhi 4,
the fact that they knew the triad in a function
tamas 3, rajas 2, sattva 1. It is not clear what is
also assumed by the prakrtis, and sattva as the
meant by dasagunaka etc., probably "ten-fold "
sum-total of creation and as the "buddhi," very
somehow understood as "tenth " and implying thein the sense in which we met it in MaitrUp.
much
preceding nine and itself. But we find in6,this 38.59 The whole passage is a striking example
enumeration three clear series: 1. sattva, rajas and
tamas; 2. buddhi, manas, ether; 3. buddhi, tamas,
59 The one dtman, which is in the middle of the body.
VAN BUITENEN: Studies in Sdmkhya (III) 103
of the encounter of different doctrines and the about macrocosmic and microcosmic aspects, this
failure of synthesis. equivalence of the world at large and the world
We passed by the third function of "'sattva" that is the person is difficult to understand; and
as the first evolved bhdva of the buddhi, corre- even more difficult to operate with, for it is clear
sponding to manas. We have no unequivocal evi- that just in the epoch with which we are dealing
dence that this bhdva is indeed equal to, or condi- macrocosm and microcosm become separated some-
tioned by a factor called sattva. We assumed it how, but not so completely that many concepts do
from the parallelism of what we have termed the not remain ambivalent for a long time. In rajas
external bhdvas (the second of which is rajas, the we have a clear case where a macrocosmic entity
factor of the senses) and the internal bhdvas, looses its macrocosmic content almost entirely; 60
sattva-rajas-tamas. Version B reads sattva where but not in all cases the distinctions are so clear-cut.
we would expect it: but since a copyist may have Therefore if we say that sattva figures often in
been struck by the same parallelism, I should speculations where attention is not so much
cautiously prefer the non-committal variant bha- focused on cosmogony as on individuation, we can-
vam of Version A. That there is a triad of evolv- not be sure we have made a meaningful statement;
ent factors behind the three external bhdvas would but more meaning may we gather from the fact
seem to be beyond doubt, and the probabilities are that sattva, in the variety of its functions, fre-
that the first is sattva. quently occurs there where the upward progress
Having exhausted the meanings of sattva in of return to the original state of person or original
being is described rather than where the downward
texts suggestive of Samkhya in the Moksadharma
section of the epic, we may ask ourselves: can we progress of creation is the sole topic.
find an "original" sattva from which the later These observations may clear the way before we
functions of this concept can be naturally derived? attempt an etymology of sattva. To render the
term with "goodness " is to start from its moral
A few considerations should precede our inquiry.
First be it repeated that the evidence about sattva, function as the first of the gunas which, as uni-
as well as the facts about the relation between versal constituents, by their interplay and relative
rajas and tamas for which we have tried to account preponderance determine the phenomena of the
in the above hypothesis, should warn us not to world and the character of man. But we have
assume beforehand that, since sattva is principally seen that this sattva is historically the same as the
known as the first of the three gunas, it therefore sattva in other meanings, and this rendering of
has always been in a triad and we are to look for the term 61 would hardly account for such mean-
an ancient triad to fit it in. Actually we are ings as " sum-total of body and creation," which is
reasonably sure only that rajas always belonged in a much wider notion. Moreover, as we pointed out
a triad; tamas did not. Secondly the fact stands in passing, this meaning of sat 'good' is not very
out that sattva especially when it occurs by itself satisfactory: it conveys "morally good" is so far
mostly occurs in evolution doctrines which describe as it denotes " strict and punctilious in doing one's
duty, esp. in ritual detail." An abstraction of this
an individuation rather than a cosmogony. But
having made this observation we are to remind sat would hardly be expected to figure prominently
in the hierarchy of doctrines in circles which were
ourselves immediately that the distinction, though
useful, is far from being sharp. World creation definitely not characterized by their undue pre-
occupation with ritualistic exactitude. We should
was described as the individuation process of a
cosmic being. This is probably the most signifi- 60 It exists on as " universal constituent" of pradhdna,
cant fact on which we ought to test our ability to which is not more than a rudiment of its original
function.
follow the associations from one set of myths about
creation to another set of more sophisticated 61 Nearest perhaps is sat in such passages as Tandvya
MBr. 15, 12,2 sad vai vdmadevyam sdmnam sad virdt
theories of evolution. Though we may glibly talk chandasdm sat trayastrimsah stomdnam satdm antdn
samdhyayottisthanty api ha putrasya putrah sattvam
possessed of sattva and in which there is no evil, is the
asnute, where sat means "excellent" (Sayana: utkrsta),
apahatapdtman dtman in the mystic lotus in the brah- and sattva "excellence"; Bohtlingk-Roth render sattva
mapura of ChUp. 8, 1, 1 and this MaitrUp. text. here by " Wesen, Character," which is not so appropriate.
104 VAN BUITENEN: Studies in Sdmkhya (III)
look for another sat which figures as an elevated stract" noun in -tva should warn us against in-
principle in a creation or evolution account where terpreting sattva too abstractly. Renderings like
the upward progress of yogic return is expressed "a being," or " Wesen " which runs like a scarlet
or implied. thread through the many meanings distinguished
This sat is, I think, to be found in such texts as by Bohtlingk-Roth, are deceptive: they presuppose
the celebrated Sadvidya of Uddalaka, ChUp. 6,62 an abstract " being, Sein," whereas sattva pre-
where an original being called sat, by a process of supposes a concrete " existing thing." The habit
tripartition, creates the phenomenal world which of translating this sat itself as " Being," already
again returns to its source and is reabsorbed in it; in RV. 10, 129 is at best an error of anachronism.
this reabsorption means the release of the indi-
vidual soul.63 The Vedantins, esp. the advaitins, Elsewhere the present writer has discussed this
sat in some detail 67 and here his remarks will be
have interpreted this sat as sattdmdtram and many
a translator has followed them; but it is clear that confined to the following. In such hymns as RV.
sat is an original creator with an dtman 64 to it, 10, 129 etc. sat is the product of asat, which might
and that sat here means "the being which exist be rendered: "that which is not yet a sat," but
(here and now)." not just " non-existent," let alone " Non-being."
We have seen that sattva can denote the body- The emergence of sat out of asat, one might say,
complex, the aggregate of elements and psyche, of the reification of asat, takes place under the gen-
the purusa or k.setrajia, " the embodied soul." eral supervision of a personal creator, though there
In such contexts the totality of the body-which is is a tendency to dispense with his services. This
creation at large-can be understood as the sat-tva emergence of sat out of asat, or asat's becoming a
of this soul, as the condition which makes this soul sat, remains the current view till Uddalaka dis-
a sat, "an entity which exists concretely." 65 We poses of asat and has creation start with sat alone.
may adduce here another meaning of sattva, not But sat remains a being that fulfills itself in crea-
considered so far, which is very common: "living tion, and already in RV. 10, 129 we can talk of
being, a being generally, but animate rather than the sattva of asat. Uddalaka, while doing away
inanimate." 66 Such concrete meanings of an " ab-
with asat, is quite aware of his originality as his
62 Senart was, as far as I know, the only one who ever justification shows.68 The problem, as I see it, was
suggested such a connection; his suggestion was tenta- the ambivalence of asat: Uddalaka finds it im-
tive and mainly inspired by his attempt to connect the possible to derive from asat "non-existent" and
guna sattva with the tejas of ChUp. 6. asatya "not as it is and always has been and ought
a ChUp. 6,8, 6.
64 See below. to be," not fixed, permanent and true," a sat that
65 It is tempting to explain sattva in Gopatha Br. is
2, not
4, only the all-comprehensive existent and per-
12 similarly: prajdpatir etebhyah prdnebho 'nydn devan
sistent Original Being but also the satya 69 with
sasrje / yad u cedam kim ca panktam tat srstva all its associations. But sat and asat also formed
vydjvalayat / te hocur devd-mldno 'yam pitdmaho
'bhiit (e.c. Gaastra) / punar imam samiryotthdpaya- another contrast. Instructive is a passage in
meti / sa ha sattvam dkhydydbhyupatisthate / yadi hi BAUp. 2, 3 where the brahman is said to have two
vd api nirniktasyaiva kulasya samdhyuk$ena yajate forms, a solid and an unsolid one (murta and
sattvam dkhydydbhyupathathate "Prajapati created the
other gods out of these pranas; having created all these
amurta), which are sat "existing here, palpably "
five he set them afire (sacrificed them); the old father and tyad " the yon, existing beyond sat," compared
had become exhausted (i.e. the fire had died down) [I in this text with the sun and the person within it.
transpose]; then the gods said: 'let us shake him up This tyad, or unsolid or transcending aspect of
and revive him.' Having called on his sattva he rose
again up to them. (Similarly) if someone sacrifices by
brahman is satya; where sat is the mortal, tyad
kindling (samdhuksena?) a pile which is extinguished
as (water) was sprinkled over it, (the fire) rises up
67 Rdmdnuja's Veddrthasamgraha, Intr. I.
again by calling on its sattva." The passage is far from
clear nor its readings certain; but it would appear that 68 ChUp. 6, 2, 1-2 tad dhaika dhu.h-asad evedam agra
sattva here represents the inner life-giving substance of dsid ekam evddvitiyam / tasmdd asatah sad ajdyateti /
prajdpati / sacrificial fire (identical: yo vai prajdpatih kutas tu khalu somyaivam sydd iti katham asatah saj
sa yajfiah. jdyeta.
66 Sattva 'thing' is attested very rarely. 69 Cf. 6,8, 6 sa dtmd tat satyam.
VAN BUITENEN: Studies in Srdmkhya (III) 105
is the immortal. This unsolid, transcending entity was here at first; from it arose the sat: it made
is also called asat, which one would like to render itself a person; therefore it is said to be well-
with "unreified" rather than "unreal." The done." 73 ... When one finds oneself security, a
firm foothold on this invisible,74 unpersonified, un-
sattva of the sat here is just that it is an obviously
existing, tangible, solid thing. formulated, unsolidified (asat), then indeed one
It is this asat which in a number of texts, andwill by
have reached complete security." Here we
have
Uddalaka's adversaries, was regarded as the the two meanings of asat: "non-existent,"
first
"cause." Faced with the problem how to the opposite of asti, in the first sloka, and "un-
derive
from an asat 'non-existent and untrue ' a sat crea- reified" in the second sloka. In the creation
tion, Uddalaka resolved it by simply doing away account of the prose commentary the masculine
with asat. The authors of TaittUp. 2, faced with sah refers to atman or prajapati, and the same
the same ambiguity of asat, solved it by equatingoriginal being is referred to as a neuter in sac ca
it with sat in terms reminiscent both of ChUp. 6tyac cdbhavat etc. Tyad, aniruktam, avijidnam,
and BAUp. 2, 3. TaittUp. 2, 6-7 reads: anilayanam and anrtam (asatyam ) 75 explain the
asat of the following sloka. The created world is
asann eva sa bhavati asad brahmeti veda cet / something real, reified, satya. Here again we see
asti brahmeti ced veda santam enam tato viduh // how the creator becomes a sat when he has entered
into his creation, i. e. reified himself. In the sloka
. ..so 'kcmayata / bahu sydm prajdyeyeti / sa the same view is repeated: from the asat the sat
tapo 'tapyata / sa tapas taptvd / idam sarvam
originated, it (asat) personified himself; for asat
asrjata / yad idam kimr ca / tat srstva / tad
is andtmya " not (yet) a being with an dtman to
evdnuprdvisat / tad anupravisya / sac ca tyac cd-it, not personified."
bhavat / niruktam cdniruktam ca / nilayanam
cdnilayanam ca / satyam cdnrtam ca / satyam In the earliest occurrences of the term sat ap-
pears as a more or less technical term for the
abhavat / yad ida.m kim ca / tat satyam ity
acaksate / tad apy esa sloko bhavati / manifest creation that emerges from the unmani-
fest under the aegis of a personal creator who is
asad vd idam agra dsit tato vai sad ajdyata / really the asat reifying himself. Sat thus is the
tad dtmdnamn svayam akuruta tasmdt tat su-first created product, it is the whole of creation;
krtam ucyate // but it is also the prime cause of creation for it is
the being that has reified itself in creation. But
. . yadd hy evaisa etasminn adrsye 'ndtmyevery early already we see that the "personal
'nirukte 'nilayane 'bhayam pratisthrdm vindate /creator" is separated from this asat becoming
atha so 'bhayam gato bhavati: Non-existent sat, though not everywhere. It would seem that
shall one become, when one knows brahman for where the notion of an original creator behind sat
'non-existent.' When one knows that brahman
persisted, sat was the created, creation; there
exists, then they know that one is existing." .where
. . the personality vanishes, a process that
"He wished: I will be many, I will beget. He starts in RV. 10, 129 and is completed in ChUp.
heated himself up; 70 after having heated up him-
6, sat was the self-created creator. It would seem
self, he discharged 71 all this, whatever there that
is. sattva, undoubtedly a notion that was elabo-
Having discharged it, he entered into it. Havingrated in circles where the idea of a personality-
entered into it, it became sat and tyad, formulated
with increasingly microcosmic features-persisted,
and unformulated, conscious and unconscious,reflects in its functions the aspect of sat as the
solid and unsolid, real and unreal: it was real,
whatever there is. That is why they say: "it 73Sukrtam;
is one could render "well-finished, com-
real." 72 On this there is this sloka: "The asat pleted."
74 Cf. the invisible person (tyad) in the visible sun
70 This tapas corresponds to the tejas of ChUp. 6 and(sat) in BAUp. 2,3.
the tapas of BAUp. 1,2 discussed above. 75 Another description is avyaktam which, originally
71 S.rj-. synonymous with asat, came to denote on the one hand
72 E.g. Uddalaka ChUp. 6.8.6 sa dtmd tat satyam, the transcendent dtman, on the other hand the primor-
where dtman and satya both denote the reified original dial matter, pradhdna, to which the creator's function of
being. the dtman were delegated.
106 VAN BUITENEN: Studies in SImkhya (III)
reified and created. As such it could easily become Probably also the sattva of ChUp. 7, 26, 2 and
linked up with tripartite creation, for as we have MaitrUp. 4, 3, where this capacity of release,
seen the triadic pattern was very frequently used purified by tapas, precedes smrti or manas, in
in creation accounts: sat of ChUp. 6 itself creates which we may very well have synonyms of buddhi.
itself in the three stages of tejas, apas and annam It is not clear how sattva came to be associated
and then personifies itself by entering into these just with rajas and tamas. Probably it succeeded
three entities as a living being.76 But sat was not to a principle like tapas or jyotis, which acquired
necessarily involved in triads, and we see sattva the connotation of "light of knowledge" and had
exist outside such groupings. As the first created its opposite in " darkness " and " obscuration."
creature sat was here and there approximated to It is very likely that rajas 'atmosphere' brought
the buddhi, which originally was the self-recogni- the triadic pattern along; where rajas does not
tion of the original being as a person, an dtmanvin, occur we find no clear triads, though both sattva
and sattva, the "createdness" of this being, could and tamas have definite potentialities to be in-
become the state of this self-recognition or buddhi. volved in groupings of three. However that may
Sattva thus lost some of its autonomy to buddhi, be, once the three were united in a triad they were
but preserved it in other circles where it could still all but inseparable, and no more than hints survive
of independent functions of sattva and tamas.79
sum up the entire creation or, microcosmically, the
purusa's body. Sattva not only had its own am- They were so united at an early date; there is no
bivalence from sat which was both creator and reason to doubt that the three gunas of AthV.
created, but when linked up with buddhi came 10,to 8, 43 refer to the precursors of sattva, rajas and
share a corresponding ambivalence of this "self-
tamas;80 and the speculations about the mystic
recognition ": the FINAL liberating self-recogni-
tion on the one hand, and on the other hand the79 For all the attention we have here given these
autonomous functions of sattva and tamas, it is plain
INITIAL creative self-recognition, which gradually,
that they are in a very small minority as compared
with the increasing primacy of the transcendent
with their function as members of the guna triad.
and unmanifest as the unalterable "truth," be- 80 There is no evidence to show that they were really
came a mistaking oneself for creation, a miscon-
called sattva, rajas and tamas. Personally I should be
inclined to think that sattva came to occupy the first
ception; 77 this function, with the function of
place in a triad of which rajas was the second term and
creator at the bottom of it, was also transferred to
succeeded there to a first term jyotis or tapas or tejas.
another originally equivalent 78 entity called aharm-
We see for instance jyotis appear in a triad in statu
kara. So sattva could be either tantamount to re- nascendi with rajas and tamas, AthV. 8,2,1-2 d ra-
lease, the buddhi's self-revelatory insight, orbhasvemdm
the amrtasya snustim dcchidyamdnd jarddastir
astu te / dsum ta dyuh pianar d bharami rdjas tamo
first step out of and the last step before a state mopa
of gd md pra mesthah // jtvatdm jy6tir abhy ehi
release. In the latter function it could describe a arvdin 4 tvd hardmi satdaaraddya / avamuncdn mrtyu-
pddin dsastim drdghiyo dyuh pratardm te daddmi.
person's CAPACITY OF RELEASE, as I think, we find
Whitney-Lanman translate: "take thou hold of this
it in sthirasattva, mahasattva, alpasattva etc. It
bundle (?) of immortality; unsevered length of time be
would seem probable that bodhisattva belongs thine;
to I bring back thy life, thy life-time; go not to the
this sattva: it describes a personality that has
welkin (rdjas), the darkness. Come hitherward unto the
light of the living; I take thou in order to live for a
reached the last step before reaching the redeeming
hundred autumns; loosening down the fetters of death,
knowledge and can have this knowledge at will.
imprecation, I set for thee further a longer life-time."
As the translators remark: "it is indeed a little star-
76 It is clear that dtman in .. anupravisya jivendt- tling to find the two names (sc. rajas and tamas) here
mana is the sat now personified; cf. my remarks side in by side." Whether rajas has the meaning of
Rdmdnuja's Veddrthasamgraha, Intr. I. "welkin " or "blackness of dirt" etc., the triad is still a
77 Abhimdna, which originally is presumably the same dyad and the whole situation is neatly comparable to
as the abhimana of BAUp. 1,2,4: sa aiksata-yadi vd tapas/sattva <-> tamas/rajas-tamas of MBh. 12,209, 10,
imam abhimamsye kaniyo 'nnam karisya iti, where imam supra. In the opposition jyotis <-) rajas-tamas is doubt-
is the original being's "second self," i. e. personification.
less also reflected that of the two paths of light and
78 Self-recognition and self-formulation being the same darkness (ChUp. 5, 10, 1; BhG. 8,26) which here find
process. a worldly application.
VAN BUITENEN: Studies in Samkchya (III) 107
lotus-with which sattva was also associated- moved

moved too
too far
farfrom
fromcomparable
comparablespeculations
speculations
in in
thethe
earliest
earliest
show that the date of this passage cannot be re- upanisads.8l
upanisads.8l
81 In an Appendix to her II mito psicologico nell'mark mark

IndiaII agree
agree totothe
theextent
extentthat
thatthetheCreator,
Creator, as as
wewehave
have
antica (Memoria della Reale Accademia Nazionale dei seen,
seen, reifies
reifies and
andpersonifies
personifieshimself
himself ininthree
three cosmic
cosmic
Lincei, 1939, serie vi, volume viii, fascicolo v), Maryla stages
stages -- worlds
worlds//seasons
seasons- -which,
which, with
with thetheincreasing
increasing
Falk has discussed the origins of the gunas (" Genesi "microcosmification"
"microcosmification"of ofthe
thecreation
creation process,
process, with
with
all all
della dottrina dei tre guna," appendice II, p. 415/703 if.) its soteric
soteric implications,
implications,come
cometotolend lend their
theirpattern
patternto to
particularly in relation to AthV. 10, 8,43 etc. and ChUp.different
different forms
formsof ofpsychological
psychological life.
life.
I cannot
I cannot enter
enter
herehere
6. Her views on the origin of the triad as a triad are into
into aa discussion
discussionof ofher
herarguments
arguments which
which areare
in in
partpart
too closely connected with her general hypothesis on theanswered
answered in in this
thisand
andformer
formerstudies
studies andandin in
part
partoutside
outside
origin of the yogic purusa doctrine, which she traces the the scope
scope ofof the
thepresent
presentstudy
studywhich,
which, apart
apartfrom
from describ-
describ-
back to the oldest texts, to be easily made intelligible outing
ing the
the general
generalbackground
backgroundofofcosmogonic
cosmogonic triads,
triads,
con-con-
of context. In AthV. and ChUp. texts the three gunas cerned cerned itself
itself mainly
mainlywith
withthe
theindividual
individual histories
historiesof of
thethe
which surround the pundarika are "il luminoso fluido three
three terms.
terms. Miss
MissFalk's
Falk'sbook,
book,stimulating
stimulating
for
for
all all
thethe
dello hrdakasa con i suoi tre colori principali (cor- opposition it evokes, was not available to me in India
rispondenti alle tre sedi del cuore), entre cui, secondo
where this article was written and could not be given
la concezione spesso documentata nelle Upanisad, e the consideration which it has rarely found but richly
contenuto potenzialmente l'atman." With the last re- deserves.
CANAKYA'S APHORISMS IN THE HITOPADESA (III) *

LUDWIK STERNBACH
NEW YORK
4. VIRTUE AND VICE One ought not live together or walk even for a
No. 53 moment with a wicked man. Relationship with a
wicked [person] is death; association with a good
Tribhir varsais tribhir mdsais tribhih paksais
tribhir dinaih [person] medicine.
aty-utalctaih papa-punyair 2 ihaiva phalam HH 74.26-7, IS 3499; CLB 1.43 (cf. HJ 3.23a and
asnute IS 3498).
The main editions of H are identical. C is identical
Within three years, within three months, inwithin
a, only; that part contains minor variants.
three fortnights, [or] within three days, one reaps,
Footnotes to No. 54: 1nfa'sthd* IS 2 ksandm CLB
even here, the fruit of extraordinary vices or
asatda IS; adhamaih CLB 4payo'pi saundin1haste
virtues.
(sondini0 IS; sodini0 CLB var.; sau? IS) madirdmi
HJ 1.85, HS 1.78, HM 1.82, HP 1.60, HN 1.61, HK manyate janah CLB 5 vdrunty abhidhiyate IS
1.84, HH 19.17-8, HC 26.16-7, IS 2642; CVT(b) 12.3,
CVT(c) 7.37, CVT(e) 63; PrC 4.211. No. 55
The main editions of H contain some minor variants.
PrC contains some minor variants. Tyaja durjana-sarmsargarm bhaja sadhu-
samdgamam
Footnotes to No. 53: 1 aty-ugrapunya HP, PrC; aty-
utkataih punya pdpaih N in HP 2 ppdndm HP, lcuru punyam aho-rdtrar smara nityam
PrC; punya-papair HN 3ucyate Pp in HS anityat&m 1
Forsake the society of the wicked. Cultivate the

No. 54
society of the good. Practise virtue day and night.
1Na sthdtavyazh na gantavyam ksanam2Remember always [your] transitory state.
apy asatd 3 saha HJ 3.24; HH 77.20-1, IS 2621; CVND 14.20, CVV
4asatdam sargamo mrtyuh satdrh samgo14.20, CV in IS (2621) 14.20, CVB (IS 2621) 100, CVA
hi bhesajam 5 6.16, CVF 6.17, CVG 6.16, CVN 6.18; CVT(a) 24;
CVT(b) 9.4, CVT(c) 6.12, CVT(d) 130, CVT(e) 42,
* See JAOS, LXXVI, pp. 115-130, and LXXVII, pp. CVT(f) 102, CVW 6.16; CLB 1.57; CRC 2.12, CRB
26-31. 2.12; CSlB 140; GP 1. 108.26; Bhg 519.

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Studies in Sāmkhya (III)

Author(s): J. A. B. van Buitenen

materials to show that rajas has the meaning " at-

tapasd prdpyate sattvam sattvat sa.mprapyatetdni sujksmdni sattvasthd vimuktdni sariratah /

lotus-with which sattva was also associated- moved

81 In an Appendix to her II mito psicologico nell'mark mark

CANAKYA'S APHORISMS IN THE HITOPADESA (III) *

Forsake the society of the wicked. Cultivate the

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