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VALIDITY OF KNOWLEDGE AND OMNISCIENCE
we are also influenced by it, for example, by the rope-snakeillusion. So according to the Jainas, as truth is rooted in immediate cognition of the object by the subject, and "error may be possible owing to failure of proper discrimination due to dosas or defects in the objective environment as well as in the sense-organs." 79
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As the Jainas accept that pramāṇa is that valid knowledge which illumines itself as well as its knowledge, they refute the views of Yogācāra Buddhists who hold that knowledge only illumines itself and the views of Mimamsakas. Naiyayikas, etc., who maintain that knowledge illumines external object alone, as it cannot illumine itself. The other characteristic of pramāṇa, such as, 'novelty' and/or 'decisiveness' are also important. The first guarantees the growth of knowledge reaching to any height and the second guards it against mere imagination and day-dreaming.
The question of a criterion of validity leads to other questions regarding its origin and knowledge. It has been very hotly debated, whether validity or invalidity is intrinsic or extrinsic, and the following answers may be suggested:
(i) Both validity and invalidity are extrinsic-NyayaVaiseṣika.
(ii) Both validity and invalidity are intrinsic-Sankhya-Yoga. (iii) Validity is intrinsic but invalidity extrinsic-Mīmārsā. (iv) Validity is extrinsic but invalidity is intrinsic-Buddhism. (v) Both the validity and invalidity can be intrinsic in one sense and extrinsic in another senses-Buddhism.
(vi) In case of familiar knowledge, validity and invalidity, are intrinsic, while in case of unfamiliar and new knowledge, validity and invalidity are extrinsic-Jainism.
79 H. M. Bhattacharya, "Jaina Critique of the Buddhist Theories of Pramana", Jaina Antiquary, Vol. XV, No. 2, p. 32.
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