Animal-oriented laukikanyāyas: On some uses of analogical maxims concerning animals in selected Vedāntic contexts

Abstract

This contribution analyses some common uses of illustrations and analogical maxims related to the animal kingdom in general and some animals in particular. Indeed, Sanskrit philosophical texts occasionally resort to everyday life scenarios that are readily accessible to human experience in order to clarify sophisticated theories, doctrines or complex theoretical disquisitions. The maxims that portray specific natural and cultural situations and analogise them with specific theoretical contexts are called laukikanyāyas. These laukikanyāyas, which are usually built upon the observation of nature, are frequently modelled after animals, taking into account certain physical or behavioural traits that may be either tangible or cultural. A well-known example found in the Adhyāsabhāṣya (Śaṅkara Bhagavatpāda’s introduction to his Brahmasūtrabhāṣya) will serve as a methodological starting point for the analysis.