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THE PSYCHOLOGY OF PERCEPTION
but must be inferred as an organ necessary for the function of perception. Another definition of sense, given by some Naiyayikas (e. g. Gangeśa and Viśvanatha), is that it is the medium of a contact between the mind and an object to produce such knowledge as is different from memory.1 This definition, however, is not applicable to mind as a sense, since it cannot be said to be the medium of contact between itself and objects like pleasure and pain The Sāstradīpikā defines sense as what produces a clear and distinct knowledge of the object it is brought in contact with. This definition holds good with regard to all the senses including the mind.
According to the Nyaya and the Mimāmsā, there are six sense organs. Of these some are called external and some internal (bahyamabhyantaram). There is only one internal sense called manas or mind. This will be separately dealt with in the another section. There are five external senses, namely, the olfactory, the gustatory, the visual, the cutaneous and the auditory. These senses are physical in character, because they are constituted by the physical elements. But for their physical character we cannot explain the limitation of perception to a particular time and space. If the senses were, as the Samkhyas say, non-physical and all-pervading principles, we should have simultaneous perceptions of all objects in the world. Each sense is capable of revealing the existence of one particular class of objects. A sense organ is constituted by the physical element whose qualities are sensed by it. It possesses the specific attribute of its constituent physical element and is therefore capable of perceiving the qualities belonging to it.1
1 SM, 58, TC, I,
2
Vide p. 36
3 NS and SD, ibid
4 NSV., 3132,
145
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