Essay name: Tarkabhasa of Kesava Misra (study)
Author:
Nimisha Sarma
Affiliation: Gauhati University / Department of Sanskrit
This is an English study of the Tarkabhasa of Kesava Misra: a significant work of the syncretic Nyaya-Vaisesika school of Indian philosophy widely used as a beginner's textbook in southern India and has many commentaries. This study includes an extensive overview of the Nyaya and Vaisesika philosophy, epistemology and sources of valid knowledge. It further deals with the contents and commentaries of the Tarkabhasa.
Chapter 4 - Purvabhaga of Tarkabhasa: Contents
38 (of 73)
External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)
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125
instance. In the case of anvayavyatireki the vyapti can be stated in both the
forms. An instance of this kind of inference is fire through smoke.
The most commonly recognized kinds of inference are svarth盲num膩na
(the inference for oneself) and par膩rth膩num膩na (the inference for other). In
the inference for oneself, the inferential cognition is deduced for one's own
benefit from the premises recalled to the mind. In the case of inference for
others, it is deduced for the benefit of another person from premises presented
to him.
In earlier philosophical works, this division of inference was observed
by Dinn膩ga, Prasastap膩da and Siddhasenadiv膩kara. In the sutras there is no
mention of these forms of inference. In NS also it is not found. But, latter
naiy膩yikas, like Anna峁僢ha峁弓a, Kesava Mi艣ra etc. accept these divisions of
anum膩na. The inference for others which is a syllogism has to be presented
in language and this has to be done only to convince others. There are five
members in Nyaya syllogism. These members are proposition (pratij帽膩),
which is a logical statement which is to be proved; reason (hetu), which states
the reason for the establishment of the proposition; example (ud膩hara峁嘺)
which gives the universal concomitance together with an example; application
(upanaya) of the universal concomitance to the present case and conclusion
(nigamana) which is drawn from the preceding propositions.
101 Kesava Misra also accepts these divisions of anum膩na in TB.
According to Ke艣ava Misra the former i.e. sv膩rth膩num膩na is that by which
101. pratij帽膩het奴dahara峁噊panayanigaman膩nyavayav膩岣�. NS. 1.1.32.
