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THE DEFINITION OF PERCEPTION
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sion of objects in perception is thus better explained by the Vedānta. It goes further than this and maintains that the essence of perception lies, not in its being produced by sense-object contacts, but in the immediacy (sākṣāttvam) of the knowledge given by it.
4 The Nyāya definitions of perception
The old school of the Nyāya defines perception in terms of sense-object contact (indriyārthasannikarsa) According to it, perception is the valid knowledge produced by the contact of an object with a sense organ. This means that perception as a form of valid knowledge is conditioned in its origin by the stimulation of the senses. This definition of perception follows froin the etymological meaning of the word pratyaksa or perception. Pratyaksa derivatively means the functioning or operation of the sense organs, each in relation to its particular object (akşasyākṣasya prativisayam vrttah pratyaksam)? In relation to a particular object, the sense may function in two ways. It may function to bring about a contact of itself with the object. In this case, the result is a cognition of the object. Secondly, a sense organ may be operative to produce a cognition of some object In this case the sense-function consists in sensecognition, and the result is a judgment of the cognised object as something desirable or undesirable or neither. 8
But even sense-cognition as a form of sense-function is Cconditioned by sense object contact. It follows that the fact of sense-object contact is involved in the very meaning of the word pratyaksa, and is common to all perceptions This common and essential character is made the basis of a definition of perception. For all
1 NS , 1. 1. 4. 2 NB , 1.1.3 3 Ibid.
