Indologica Taurinensia

Author(s): Colette Caillat, Siegfried Lienhard, Irma Piovano, Saverio Sani
Publisher: Comitato AIT

Page 33

On the Relationship of the Nyāyâvatāra and the Sammati-tarka-prakarāņa
61
etc. It is certain that v. 9, being confined furthermore to the sāstra and not referring to the sābda in general, is spurious in general, is spurious in the logical treatise, viz. the NV. Moreover, it is not in agreement with the scheme the NV-author certainly had in mind, viz. to encompass precisely the subject matter of logic in a small compendium.' As a matter of fact, in expressing his reservations about NA 8, BHATT revives the arguments brougt forward, among others, by P.L. Vaidya in his introduction to NA3 (p. xiii-xiv, xxviii) and MUKHTAR (1956).
The repetition of a phrase is hardly a conclusive ground to question the authenticity of any verse in NA. On the contrary, we can see that some verses in such a relatively short treatise reveal a repetitive character, just to compare three cases of pairs of adjoining verses:
2a, d: prasiddhāni pramānāni ... jñāyate na prayojanam and . 3ab: prasiddhānām pramāṇānām laksaņôktau prayojanam
22a: anyathânupapannatvas and 23b: yo 'nyathaîvôpapadyate 24ab: sādharmyenâtra drstânta-dosā nyāya-vid-iritäh 25ab: vaidharmyenâtra drstânta-dosā nyāya-vid-iritäh
By applying the suggested method to discard all verses that contain repetitions one would end with perhaps with a handful of verses The main point, as a matter of fact, concerns the occurrence of sastra, which might seem 'spurious in the logical treatise'. A closer analysis will reveal that the reference to śāstra /āpta not only is relevant to the discussion of epistemological issues, especially in the context of debate with Dinnāga and Dharmakirti, but also it is absolutely essential in the structure of NA, which offers a new model of pramānas. The sequence of the verses runs as follows:
NA 889: definition of verbal cognition (śābda),
NA 990: definition of a reliable source of verbal cognition (śāstram + āpta /āptôpajña),
89. See n. 30. 90. NA 9: āptôpajñam anullanghyam adsstêsta-virodhakam /
tattvôpadeśa-krt sārvam śāstram kāpatha-ghattanam // - 'Authoritative treatise is that which has been discerned by an authoritative per