Chapter 4.3 - Navya Nyaya (introduction)

Beginning of Navya-Nyaya can be considered the turning point in the history of Nyaya philosophy. The transition of Nyaya into a new form had its beginning after tenth century and its progress reached the pinnacle under the patronage of Gangesha, Raghunatha etc. As a comprehensive system of philosophy, Navya-Nyaya treats not only logic, but epistemology, physics, grammar and many other incidental topics of interest. The Navya-Nyaya philosophy seems to have started in 1200 A.D by Gangesopadhya and flourished in Mithila first and later Bengal. Navya-Nyaya is basically an epistemological and linguistic system. It is thoroughly realistic in its outlook and mainly deals with the logical relations of facts and ideals. Anumana is used more consistently in Navya-Nyaya than in the old school.

All teachers of Navya-Nyaya regarded inference as caused either directly or indirectly by knowledge of a pervasion. The inference is not caused by the pervasion per se. It is to its cardinal position in the inferential process that pervasion owes its importance in Navya-Nyaya. The entire machinery of the Navya-Nyaya dialectics is directly towards the establishment of God as the supreme reality. The Navya Naiyayikas are theists and their primary concern is to analyze the real objects which happen to be the content of valid knowledge and find out the logical relation underlying them.

The important works and scholars belonging to Navya Nyaya period are the following: