Verse 2.701

Sanskrit text and transliteration:

अप्रमाणमिति ज्ञानं कस्मादज्ञायि कथ्यताम् ।
विद्यमानोपलम्भानि न ह्यभावं प्रमिण्वते ॥ ७०१ ॥

apramāṇamiti jñānaṃ kasmādajñāyi kathyatām |
vidyamānopalambhāni na hyabhāvaṃ pramiṇvate || 701 ||

English translation of verse 2.701:

Whence you have got the knowledge that (a word) is not a pramāṇa (in respect of what it conveys) may be stated. (Perception and other pramāṇas) which make known what is existent cannot, indeed, reveal non-existence.

Notes:

How does the Niyogavādin know that a word is not a pramāṇa in respect of what it conveys? The knowledge of the absence of validity in a word (pade prāmāṇyābhāva) is abhāvajñāna. How is this knowledge obtained by him? Is it obtained through pramāṇas like perception? Or, is it obtained through the word itself? It cannot be through pramāṇas like perception, because they can reveal what is existent alone and not what is non-existent. The other alternative will not be helpful to the Niyogavādin. If the knowledge of the absence of validity in a word is known through the word itself, then the word ex hypothesi must be admitted to be a pramāṇa.