________________
CHAPTER XV
THE NATURE AND FORMS OF UPAMANA
1. The Nyaya definition of upamāna
The word upamana is derived from the words upa meaning sūdrsya or similarity, and māna meaning cognition. Hence upamāna derivatively means the knowledge of the similarity between two things. This derivative meaning, however, requires certain qualifications in order to give a complete definition of upamāna. As a pramāna, upamāna is the source of our knowledge about the relation between a word and its denotation (samiña-samñisambandha) 1 We have such knowledge when first we are told by some authoritative person that the word denotes a class of objects of a certain description and, secondly, finding some objects of that description we recognise them as denoted by that word. The description of the unknown objects denoted by the word is generally given in terms of their similarity to some familiar object of experience. Hence upamana is generally defined as the ground of our knowledge of a thing from its similarity to another thing previously well-known. 2 Thus a man, who does not know what a gavaya or wild ox IS, may be told by some forester that it is an animal like the When next he meets with such an animal in the forest, he knows that it is the gavaya. But the description of the unknown objects denoted by a word may also be given in terms of their dissimilarity to certain known objects or
COW.
1 Saujāsamjisambandhajñānamupamitiḥ etc., T8., p. 62.
3 Vide NS. & NB., 1.1.6
