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The Happening of Tradition : Vallabha on Anumāna in Nyāyalīlāvatī

<p>The present dissertation is a translation and analysis of the chapter on <i>anumāna</i> in Vallabha’s <i>Nyāyalīlāvatī,</i> based on certain theoretical considerations on cross-cultural translation and the understanding of tradition. Adopting a non-essentialized and non-historicist conceptualization of the Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika/Navya-nyāya tradition, the work focuses on a reading of the <i>anumāna</i> chapter that is particularized and individualized. It further argues for a plurality of interpretative stances within the academic field of Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika/Navya-nyāya studies, on the grounds that the dominant stance has narrowed the scope of research. With reference to post-colonial theory, this dominant stance is understood in terms of a certain strategy called “mimetic translation”.</p><p>The study of the <i>anumāna</i> chapter consists of three main interpretational sections: translation, comments, and analysis. The translation and comments focus on understanding issues internal to the <i>Nyāyalīlāvatī. </i>The analysis focuses on a contextual interpretation insofar as the text is understood through reading other texts within the Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika/Navya-nyāya discourse. The analysis is further grounded in a concept of intertextuality in that it identifies themes, examples, and arguments appearing in other texts within the discourse. The analysis also identifies and discusses Cārvāka and Mīmāṁsaka arguments within the <i>anumāna</i> chapter.</p><p>Two important themes are discerned in the interpretation of the <i>anumāna</i> chapter: first, a differentiation between the apprehension of <i>vyāpti</i> and the warranting of this relation so as to make the apprehension suitable for a process of knowledge; second, that the sequential arrangement of the subject matter of the sections within the chapter, <i>vyāptigraha</i>, <i>upādhi</i>, <i>tarka</i>, and <i>parāmar</i>śa, reflects the process of coming to inferential knowledge.</p><p>The present work is a contribution to the understanding of the post-Udayana and pre-Gaṅgeśa Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika/Navya-nyāya discourse on inferential knowledge and it is written in the hope of provoking more research on that particular period and discourse in the history of Indian philosophies.</p>

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA/oai:DiVA.org:uu-7417
Date January 2006
CreatorsSjödin, Anna-Pya
PublisherUppsala University, Department of Linguistics and Philology, Uppsala : Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis
Source SetsDiVA Archive at Upsalla University
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeDoctoral thesis, monograph, text
RelationSouth Asian Studies, 1653-8129 ; 1

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