Studies in the Bhagavati Sutra

Author(s): J C Sikdar
Publisher: Research Institute of Prakrit Jainology & Ahimsa Mujjaffarpur

Page 622

Sec. V]
Studies in the BHAGAWATI SŪTRA
597
Pratyaksa pramāņa is the knowledge determined by the senses and mind. It is indriya-pratyaksa (valid knowledge acquired through five sense-organs) and non-indriya-pratyaksa-pramāņa (knowledge determined by mind).
Empirical knowledge is incomplete and it does not convey the correct knowledge of the object. Accordingly the object is judged from two standpoints, viz. vyavahāra-naya and niscaya-naya (empirical and transcendental standpoints) as already discussed in the first section of this chapter and there is the form of judgement called anumāna (inference) to determine the validity of knowledge.
Anumāna-pramūna (inference--syllogism-deduction) is that by which an object is known by means of the knowledge of the problems and the memory of universal concomitance, and the like (Linga grahanasambandhasmaranādeh pascānmiyati anenetyanumānam). There are three kinds of anumāna-pramāņa, viz. pūrvavat, sesavat and dystasādharmya. The first one is determined by any former sign, e. g. when the mother recognizes her son, who was lost in his childhood, and returns after a lapse of long period, by the sign of some scar on his body. The second is determined by kārya (action), kārana (cause), guna (quality), avayava (feature) and aśraya (receptacle), e. g. sankha (conch) is known by its sound i. e. action, thread is the cause of cloth (kārana), gold is known by nikasa (test-stone) (i. e. guna), buffalo by horn (avayava) and fire by smoke (āšraya). The third (drstasādharmya) is determined by the general and particular views (sāmānya-drsta and višesadysta). Aupamya or Upamāna (Analogy or Similarity)
It is the empirical nature of objects which helps to have the idea of things by way of similarity, figure of speech or analogy. There are two kinds of aupamya (analogy), viz. sādharmya and vaidharmya (similarity and dissimilarity), e.g. as is mandāra, (thorn-apple), so is mustard, as is mustard, so is mandāra, etc., are examples of kificit-sādharmya, as sāmalero (calf) is, bāhulero
Bhs, (Comm.), 5, 4, 193.