विपर्ययः - Viparyaya

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Blog author Jayaraman Mahadevan

 

विपर्ययः - Viparyaya

 

Etymology

वि+परि+इण् +अच् = विपर्ययः

vi+pari+iṇ +ac = viparyayaḥ

 

·       Vi & Pari are prefixes that mean opposite and exessive

·       Iṇ is the root that means - Gati-  movement

·       ac (अच्) is the suffix that is added to the root to indicate the meaning bhāva (the act). This suffix is added as per the grammatical rule एरच् erac (aṣṭādhyāyī 3.3.56)

 

Based on this the derivative statement would then be - विपरीयते इति विपर्ययः – viparīyate iti viparyayaḥ - the act of movement that is excessively opposite. 

 

Lexicon

There is one reference to the word in Amarakośa. It is as follows –

स्याद्व्यत्यासो विपर्यासो व्यत्ययश्च विपर्यये

syādvyatyāso viparyāso vyatyayaśca viparyaye (3.2.33)

Words such as vyatyāsa, viparyāsa, vyatyaya, viparyaya indicate the opposite.

 

Textual occurrences

Yogasūtra

 There are two references to Viparaya in this text.

1. प्रमाणविपर्ययविकल्पनिद्रास्मृतय ॥१.६॥ - pramāṇaviparyayavikalpanidrāsmṛtaya ..1.6.. - Here Viparyaya is enumerated as one among the five Vṛttis of the citta.
2. विपर्ययो मिथ्याज्ञानमतद्रूपप्रतिष्ठम् ॥१.८॥- viparyayo mithyājñānamatadrūpapratiṣṭham .. 1.8 .. - This Sūtra defines Viparyaya as wrong knowledge, which is not established in the true nature of the object. 

 

Bhagavadgītā & Haṭhayogapradīpikā -  The term Viparyaya is not found in these two texts.

 

Observations

Based on the textual references above – it can be seen that when the etymology and lexical entry point to viparya as something opposite – in the Yogasūtra context it emerges as the opposite of valid/right knowledge – erroneous knowledge. 

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