UGC NET Questions (Paper – 1)

Samavaya is the special relation posited by Nyaya-Vaisheshika to account for cases where two entities are so intimately connected that they cannot exist separately, such as a substance and its qualities or a whole and its constituent parts. Ordinary relations like contact are deemed insufficient to explain this inseparability. Samavaya is therefore treated as an eternal, irreducible category. Hence the bond mentioned in the stem is called samavaya.

Option A:
Option A, samanya, denotes universals that are common to many individuals and does not name a relation between distinct entities. It explains similarity, not inseparable connection.

Option B:
Option B is correct because samavaya directly addresses the ontological need for a relation that binds co-located but numerically distinct entities into unified complexes. It plays a crucial role in the padartha framework.

Option C:
Option C, vishesha, is the category of particularity that differentiates ultimate entities from one another and is not the relation holding between them.

Option D:
Option D, abhava, signifies non-existence or absence and cannot be the glue that unites substances with their qualities or parts.