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CHAPTER VI
THE DEFINITION OF PERCEPTION
1. Primacy of perception over other methods of knowledge
Perception (pratyaksa), like inference and the rest, is taken to mean both a form of valid knowledge (pramitz) and the means or method of acquiring such knowledge (pramāņa). We are here concerned with them as methods of knowledge. According to the Nyāya, there are four distinct and independent methods or sources of knowledge, namely, perception, inference, comparison and testimony. Of these, perception comes first and is the most fundamental. Of course, the primacy of perception over the other methods of knowledge is not due to anything in the nature of the objects of knowledge. So far as the objects of knowledge are concerned, the methods or ways of knowing stand on the same footing in respect of their value and importance. While there are certain objects which may be known by any of the four methods, there are other objects which must be known by a particular method and cannot be known by any other. The existence of fire at a distant place may be known from the testimony of a reliable person. It may also be known by inference from the observed smoke as a mark of fire. Or, if we take the trouble to go up to the place from which smoke issues forth, we have a perception of the fire on the spot. Hence with regard to such objects as the fire, one method of knowledge is as good and valid as any other. Contrariwise, there are certain cases in which a truth is to be known by some special method. Scriptural
