सङ्गीतरत्नाकर: प्रथम भाग (शार्ङ्गदेव - स्वरगताध्याय सविस्तार व्याख्या व अनुवाद सहित)

Page 58

58 Treatment of Svara
अग्नेस्तु लोचनं रूपं पित्तं पाकं प्रकाशताम् ॥६८॥
अमर्षं तैक्ष्ण्यमूष्माणमोजस्तेजश्च शूरताम् ।
मेधावितां तथा ऽऽदत्ते जलात्तु रसनं रसम् ॥६९॥
शैत्यं स्नेहं द्रवं स्वेदं मूत्रादि मृदुतामपि ।
भूमेर्घाणेन्द्रियं गन्धं स्थैर्यं धैर्यं च गौरवम् ॥७०॥
श्मश्रुकेशनखं दन्तानस्थ्याद्यन्यच्च कर्कशम् ।
(v) The five great elements (mahābhūta-s) and the human
body : 56c-71b
The body is a composite of the (five) great elements¹
(mahābhūta-s) and has therefore acquired their qualities (as
herein described); sound, the faculty of hearing, porosity,
individuation², intelligence³ and hollowness from space; and
touch, the sense organ for touch, five types of motion, viz.
The physical body is a conglomeration of the five great elements
and as such it has inherited, as it were the qualities of those elements.
The sense organs are naturally related to their respective objects of
perception. The objects of perception are the five elements in different
forms and combinations Thus either we can speak of the five sense
objects or the five elements. This is the reason why sound, for example,
is separately mentioned from the faculty of hearing and touch is men-
tioned as distinct from the sense of touch (cf, Caraka Śa. Sthā. 1.30).
The objects such as sound etc. are known to be the sense objects,
i. e. the qualities or objects of senses; and they in the body are indica-
tive of the great elements such as ether etc. In this context it might be
useful to refer to the concept of Puruṣa, i. e., the individual being
as found in Caraka (Śa. Sthā. 1.15), viz. (the five elements). Ether etc.
with consciousness as the sixth make for the individual being. Cons-
ciousness is thus the spiritual element and the five material elements
compose the body. Again Śa. Sthā. 5.4-5 states—
"The macrocosm is said to be constituted of six elements, viz.,
earth, water, fire, air, ether and the unmanifest Brahman (transcenden-

1. The five great elements are earth, water, fire, air and ether.
2. Vaiviktyam is separativeness.
3. What is literally meant is the capacity of subtle discernment,
   the ability to grasp the abstract.

---

Page 59

Section 2 : The Genesis of the Human Embodiment 59
upwards, downwards, contraction, linear movement and
expansion from air. (56c-58d)
The ten modifications of air (breath in the body), viz.
apāna, vyāna, samāna, udāna, nāga, kūrma, kṛkara, devadatta and
dhanañjaya and roughness⁴ as well as lightness⁵ are also deriv-
ed from the air. (58d-60b)
Of these (ten), prāṇa, which is the most important one,
is stationed below the root of the navel, and it operates
through the mouth, the nostrils, the navel and the heart,
tal reality); and these very six elements it is said, constitute the micro-
cosm called Puruṣa. Of that Puruṣa, the earth forms the image, water
forms the liquid, fire constitutes the heat, air acts as the vital breath,
hollowness is caused by ether and Brahman is the inner soul etc." Com-
pare this with Suśruta (Śa Sthā. 1 20) : "The properties of ākāśa
(ether) are sound, the sense of hearing, porosity and differentiation,
evolution of the veins, ligaments, etc. into their characterised species
(viviktatā). The properties of vāyu (etherin) are touch, the skin, all
functional activities of the organism, throbbing of the whole body
(spandana) and lightness. The properties of teja (fire or heat) are form,
the eyes, the colours, heat, illumination, digestion, anger, generation
of instantaneous energy and valour. The properties of apa (water or
liquid) are taste, the tongue, fluidity, heaviness, coldness, oleaginous-
ness and semen. The properties or modifications of pṛthvī (the earth
matter or solid) are smell, the nose, embodiment and heaviness" (repro-
duced from Eng. tr. by K K. Vol. II, p. 120).
Our author has dealt with this subject rather elaborately (i.e.,
from verse No. 56cd-71ab) giving minute details of the various prāṇa-s
(vital breaths) from the science of Yoga (vide Verse Nos. 59-68ab). One
is tempted to reach for the original source and reflect on the subject in
proper detail; but obviously, that would be too great a divergence from
the main subject of this work. It will be seen that as far as the parti-
cular qualities of the great elements manifested in the human body are
concerned, the author's description is not at great variance with this
account, though in some respects both are more elaborate with reference
to each other.
4. Rūkṣatā, as defined by 'S' is caused by the scarcity of oily
matter. Roughness is not here the opposite of smoothness.
5. Weightlessness is defined by 'S' as absence of weightfulness.