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Apaurusheya ( Sanskrit: अपौरुषेय, apauruṣeya, lit. means "not of a man"), meaning "not of human" [1] or "impersonal, authorless", is a term used to describe the Vedas, the earliest scripture in Hinduism. [2] [3]

Apaurusheya shabda ("impersonal words, authorless") is an extension of apaurusheya which refers to the Vedas and numerous other texts in Hinduism. [2] [4]

Apaurusheya is a central concept in the Vedanta and Mimamsa schools of Hindu philosophy. These schools accept the Vedas as svatah pramana ("self-evident means of knowledge"). The Mimamsa school asserts that since the Vedas are composed of words ( shabda) and the words are composed of phonemes, the phonemes being eternal, the Vedas are also eternal.[ citation needed] To this, if asked whether all words and sentences are eternal, the Mimamsa philosophers reply that the rules behind combination of phonemes are fixed and pre-determined for the Vedas, unlike other words and sentences. The Vedanta school also accepts this line of argument.[ citation needed]

See also

References

  1. ^ Vaman Shivaram Apte, The Practical Sanskrit-English Dictionary, see apauruSeya
  2. ^ a b D Sharma, Classical Indian Philosophy: A Reader, Columbia University Press, ISBN , pages 196-197
  3. ^ Jan Westerhoff (2009), Nagarjuna's Madhyamaka: A Philosophical Introduction, Oxford University Press, ISBN  978-0195384963, page 290
  4. ^ Warren Lee Todd (2013), The Ethics of Śaṅkara and Śāntideva: A Selfless Response to an Illusory World, ISBN  978-1409466819, page 128