________________ XV INTRODUCTION parik sha 1 and (7) Santanantara-siddhi.2 In addition to these, he has also composed commentaries on the Svarthanumana-parichchheda of the Pramana-vartika and the Sambandha-pariksha. According to Bu-ston, the seven treatises consist of three * main works, which may be compared to a body, and four supplementary ones, which act as its limbs. The first are the Nyaya-bindu, Pramana-vini schaya, and Pramana-vartika, which demonstrate the means of easily apprehending the modes of correct knowledge for scholars of acute, ordinary, and weak intellectual ability. "The Pramana-vinischaya", says the Kashmirian Pandita Jnanasri, "is not to be regarded as a commentary on the Pramana-samuchchaya". Acharya Dharmottara, on the contrary, says that it was a commentary on the work in question, and this opinion is to be regarded as correct. The four supplementary works do not deal with the topic of sense-perception. The subject of inference is treated in detail by two works--the Hetu-bindu, which contains an investigation of three kinds of hetu and the sambandha-pariksha, which deals with the problem of relation. The syllogism is enlarged upon in the Vada-nyaya. It also examines in detail the conception of jatyuttara and nigrahasthana as accepted by Nyaya. The Santanantara-siddhi shows that from the viewpoint of Empirical Reality, the inference of the existence of other minds does not conflict with Idealism.3 According to tradition Dharmakirti was born in the South, in the village of Trimalaya, in a Brahmana family and received a Brahmanical education. He then became interested in Buddhism. Desiring to receive instruction from a direct pupil of Vasubandhu he arrived at Nalanda where Dharmapala, a pupil of Vasubandhu was still living, although very old. His interest in logical problems was aroused, but Dinnaga was no more alive; he therefore directed his steps towards Isvarasena, a direct pupil of the great logician. 1 Almost all its verses are quoted in the Prameya-kamala-martanda, pp. 504-511 and the Syadvada-ratnakara, p. 812 and by Pt. Rahulji in his introduction to Pramanavartikabhashya. 2 Available in Tibetan only. 3 Bu-ston--History of Buddhism, pp. 44-5.
