Nyaya-Vaisheshika (critical and historical study)
by Aruna Rani | 1973 | 97,110 words
This essay studies Nyaya-Vaisheshika—A combination of two of the six orthodox schools of Indian philosophy. The study also discusses in detail the authors of various works and critically analyzes key concepts of Nyaya-Vaisesika. Such Indian philosophies seek the direct realization of the Atman (the self) to attain ultimate freedom and bliss....
4. Authors of Nyaya (g): Udayana (1050 A.D.)
The last representative of the Old Nyaya is Udayana who may be easily said to be the greatest of the thinkers of this period. It was he who took the cudgel against the Buddhists and gave a final blow to their views. It is, therefore, that we do not hear much about these Buddhists scholars after Udayana. The credit to put an end to the old academic quarrel between the Buddhists and non-Buddhists, is given to Udayana. Udayana is both a Naiyayika and a Vaisesika. He has written a commentary named Nibandha or Parisudhi on Tat paryatika. By writing this treatise he can be placed in the direct line of the commentators of the Nyaya Sutra of Gautama and hence he 59
60 is a Naiyayika. His another two works Nyaya-Kusumanjali and Atmatattvaviveka, have been written from the common stand-point of Nyaya and Vaisesika schools. Besides this, Udayana has made most valuable contribution to the Vaisesika school of philosophy. So Udayana can be called both a Naiyayika and a Vaisesika. His Nyaye-KusumanjalI is perhaps the most outstanding work in Indian philosophy, dealing with the problem of God. In this work, the attack is against the Mimamsakas who hold that there is a settled order of things in this world, which needs no God either for its establishment or for its maintenance. This work of Udayana attempts to prove that there is a God who is the creator of this universe and who is also the regulator of the moral order in this world. ta In his Atmattvaviveka, Udayana establishes that there is a permanent self in man, which endures after the death of the individual, which carries with it the residue of its actions in the past life to a later life and which, after a series of such lives, attains final release in course of time. No doubt, the two schools of Nyaya and Vaisesika flourished separately and independently of each other from the very beginning, but it is also a fact which cannot be gainsaid that they had inter-relations on many problems. The credit, however, to combine these two schools for the
61 first time into a syneretic school is traditionally given to Udayana. This is clear that Udayana has freely syncretized the characteristic doctrines of one school with those of the other. For exemple, it is well known that the Vaisesika system does not admit Upamane and Sabda es distinct parmenes. But Udayana es a Maiyayika, prows that their separate character cannot be denied. Again, it may be pointed out that the Vaisesika includes dream cognitions under anubhava and so distinct from aruti, while the Naiyayikas hold that dream-cognition is not anubhave. Though there are somewhat confused opinions on this tople amongst the Maiyayikas, yet the prevailing view of the Waiyayikas is that dream-cognition is not anubhava, but it is a kind of smrti. Udayane being both a Waiyayika and a Vaisesika, hold that it should be accepted as anubhava. Thus, it seems that Udayana has made a sort of compromise between the two schools. 1 Although the modern school of Nyaya is commonly believed to have been founded by Gangesa Upadhyaya, who only consolidated it, but a careful study of the works of Udayana shows that the methodology of the Modern Nyaya had actually started even at the time of Udayana. Gopinatha 1. Umosh Misra, Dream Theory in Indien Thought, Pages 273-78+
Kaviraj says: "Personally I am disposed to believe that the distinction between the old and the new school in the history of Nyaya philosophy dates from after Udayana and Sridhara." 1 There remains no topic in Gancesa's work, which had not been already argued by Udayana in his main works and specially in the Kusumanjall. It is only in the method and mode of expression that Gongesa excelled over Udayana. In the words of Dinesh Bhattaoarya: "The real founder is the great Udayanacarya, who had the supreme privilege of occupying the threshold to ring out the old and usher in the new age by his monumental works. On the one hand, Udayana's Parisudhi forms the last part of the surviving classics of the older school of the Nyaya, and on the other his Kusumenjall is uptill now a text book of Navya-Nyaya." 2 Till now, we have treated the main authors and writers of the old Nyaya who explained and developed the ideas contained in the Nyaya Sutra and also defended them against the attacks of the hostile arities. The Old Nyaya is thus, a development of the Sutra philosophy of Cantana through a process of attack, counter-attack and defence among the 1. Gopinath Kaviraj, Princess of Wales, Saraswati Bhaven Studies, Vol. II, Page 200 2. Dinesh Chandra Bhattacharya, History of Navya-Nyaya in Mithila, Page 1. 4539 ༣ 62
63 Naiyayikas and their hard critics. In this stage of Nyaya, the system was studied as a whole and much more attention was given to the study of the knowables (prameyas), and the study of means of right knowledge (pramanas) occupied a subordinate place and were taken up only to explain the knowables. The commentators of the Nyaya Sutra adhered to the old practice of treating epistemology as a part of metaphysics. Vatsyayane and his worthy successors discussed both the logical and metaphysical problems more fully and also many other questions of general philosophical interest. The result is a fully developed and complete system of philosophy • In other words, the treatment of the Old Nyaya writers is complete and proceeds to realize the ultimate end of philosophy.