Samavaya

Samavaya (समवाय) means “inherence” or “inseparable connection.” It is one of the seven fundamental categories (padartha) of the Vaisheshika school, denoting the permanent, non-separable relation between a substance and its qualities, or between a universal and its particular.

Overview

Samavaya is the relation that binds a quality (guna) to its substance (dravya), or a particular (vishesha) to its universal (samanya). It is not a substance itself but an inherent relation — inseparable, eternal, and unitary. For example, the whiteness of a white cloth inheres in the cloth through samavaya. Without samavaya, the universe would be a mere aggregate of unrelated entities.

Philosophical Context

Samavaya was introduced by the Vaisheshika school to solve a problem: how do qualities relate to substances? Kanada, the founder, argued that qualities cannot exist independently, nor can they be identical with substances (since we can think of a substance without a particular quality). Samavaya is thus the necessary third entity that connects them. The Nyaya school, adopting the Vaisheshika category scheme, incorporates samavaya as the intrinsic relation (sahaja) between substance and quality.

Interpretations

The early Vaisheshika school (Kanada) treated samavaya as a separate category, while later Vaisheshika (Udayana, Shridhara) sometimes assimilated it into the substance-quality relation. The Navya-Nyaya school, while retaining samavaya among the categories, developed the concept of svarupa-sambandha (intrinsic relation) to analyze relations more finely. Some commentators distinguish paramartha-samavaya (ultimate inherence) from vyavaharika-samavaya (conventional inherence).

Verification Notes

• Kanada’s Vaisheshika Sutras 1.1.13–15 define samavaya.
• Padarthadharmasamgraha of Prashastapada elaborates the concept.
• Audited against Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies (September 2026).