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means of acquiring knowledge and soul is a knower. This acquired knowledge is called as aparāvidyā in the Upanișads. In Jainism, it is called as matijñāna. A soul has an ability to know the objects directly without the help of sense organs and mind also. That knowledge is defined as supersensous and spiritual knowledge which emerges within a soul after removal of ignorance and subsidence-cum-destruction of knowledgeobscuring karma. In the Upanişads, it has been called as parāvidyā. In Jainism, this knowledge has been considered as avadhijñāna, manaḥparyāyajñāna and kevalajñāna, Śrutajñāna is considered as a scriptural, verbal and spiritual knowledge.
Thinking about validity of knowledge is also a subject of epistemology. Yogācāra Buddhists and Jaina philosophers accept knowledge as illuminating the self and the object.Hence in their views, no other knowledge is required to determine the validity of that knowledge in the practiced position, but if the knowledge of an object is not familiar, then another knowledge is needed to verify its validity. Nyāya philosophers accept that validity of one knowledge is determined through some other valid knowledge. Mimāmsaka philosophers have a different view. They accept that invalidity in a knowledge comes from other causes, knowledge itself is valid.
Jaina tradition has contributed in the field of Indian epistemology by propounding five types of knowledge viz- 1. Matijñāna (sensous knowledge) 2.Śrutajñāna(scriptural or verbal knowledge) 3.Avadhijñāna (clairvoyance) 4. Manaḥparyāyajñāna (a knowledge reading mental modes of others) 5.kevalajñāna(pure and perfect knowledge).
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