Sūtra 8.2.5 (The Sense of Smell is constituted by the element of Earth)

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of Vaiśeṣika sūtra 8.2.5:

भूयस्त्वात् गन्धवत्त्वाच्च पृथिवी गन्धज्ञाने प्रकृतिः ॥ ८.२.५ ॥

bhūyastvāt gandhavattvācca pṛthivī gandhajñāne prakṛtiḥ || 8.2.5 ||

bhūyastvāt—by reason of preponderance or predominance; gāndha-vatvāt—by reason of possession of smell; ca—and; pṛthivī—earth; gandha-jñāne—in (the constitution of) that by which smell is perceived, ie, the olfactory sense; prakṛtiḥ—matter, material cause, essence.

5. By reason of (its) predominance, and of possession of Smell, Earth is the material cause of the olfactory sense.

Commentary: The Upaskāra of Śaṅkara Miśra:

(English rendering of Śaṅkara Miśra’s commentary called Upaskāra from the 15th century)

He states the proposition for which the topic was begun:

[Read sūtra 8.2.5 above]

That by which smell is cognised, is ‘gandha-jñāna,’ that is, the olfactory sense. Therein ‘pṛthivi,’ Earth, alone is ‘prakṛti,’ the material cause. It may be asked, why is it so? accordingly he says ‘gandha-vatvāt;’ for it has been said already that that which possesses smell cannot be originated by that which is void of smell. The possession of smell (by the olfactory sense) or its odorousness is proved from the rule or well-known uniformity of nature that the external senses themselves possess attributes similar in kind to those which are apprehensible by them. If it be urged, how then can there be such uniformity that the characteristic of being the revealer of smell does not belong to the other members of the body but only to the olfactory senseorgan, even when terrene-ness belongs to all of them without distinction? So he says ‘bhūyastvāt.’ It is the being constituted or originated by terrene particles uninfluenced by other substances, which is called ‘bhūyastvāṃ,’ ‘predominance.’ This, ‘bhūyastvaṃ,’ is a technical term, and has been so used in the kindred system (i.e., the Nyāya-Sūtra) also.—5.