Jain Journal 1981 01

Author(s): Jain Bhawan Publication
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication

Page 27

A Brief Account of the Jaina View of Inference
GOUR HAZRA
The most important method of knowledge is anumāna or inference. The inference is so called because it is a kind of knowledge (māna which we deduct from prior (anu) knowledge. The Jainas hold that anumāna is the method of knowing an unperceived object through the perception of a sign (hetu) and the recollection of its invariable concomitance with the object.
It is a complex process of knowledge and is accepted by all schools of Indian thought except Carvaka who denies it altogether. To the Naiyayika anumāna is a type of secondary knowledge deduced from a prior knowledge. A knowledge of the invariability of concomitance between two things helps to deduce the existence of one of them when the other is perceived. The Bauddhas consider anumāna to be a perception of an object which is known to be invariably related to another thing.
Vatsayana in his book Nyāyabhäşya uses the term anviksa for the word anumāna. Anvikṣā literally means knowledge which follows from other knowledge. In the example 'Fire is inferred from smoke', first we get 'knowledge of smoke' then of 'knowledge of fire'.
The Jaina logician Acarya Akalanka presents a comprehensive definition of anumāna as follows: congnition of sadhya produced by the sadhana is called anumana which follows linga-grahana and vyāptismaraṇa.
Hemacandra defines anumāna thus:
sādhana-sādhya-vijñānam anumānam
Anumana is the knowledge of sadhya (probandum) from sadhana (probane). 'Fire is inferred from smoke.' Hence 'smoke' is the sadhna (probane), and 'fire' is the sadhya (probandum).
Inference is thus based on the universal succession of the (probane) sadhana by the sadhya (probandum). It is based on vyāpti derived from induction (tarka), which is the logical ground of inference.