Influence of Navya-Nyāya Concepts and Language in Vyākaraṇa

Abstract

The schools of Nyāya and Vyākaraṇa are mighty Śāstras among the traditional Indian knowledge systems. Both the Śāstras have a long and strong traditional lineage with vast literature, original and commentarial, delineating their unique doctrines, even on common topics between them, that are concluded after much systematic deliberation and in line with the ontology and tenets of the respective Śāstras. Such long traditions of knowledge have much dialectic and polemic engagement, thereby, mutually influencing the pathways the Śāstras traverse as the tradition moves ahead in time.

Gaṅgeśopādhyāya, a radical thinker of the Nyāya school, not only changed the landscape of the ontology of his own school by bringing in more brevity in categorization and precision in expression, but also influenced the knowledge community then on greatly by giving them the gift of precision in expression through many technical axioms that he adopted for drawing conclusions through the thicket of gruesome complexities that epistemological topics dragged the scholars through.

Incidentally, the scholars of other schools like Vyākaraṇa, Vedānta, Sāhitya, etc. borrowed the terminology, methodology, and axioms that the Navya-Nyāya school propagated for more incisive logical presentation of their doctrines and used them to refute the viewpoints of other schools, including Nyāya, and establish their own theories. This chapter throws light on how the Nyāya concepts, axioms, and language influenced the Vyākaraṇa scholars and gave them the tools for analytical and critical thinking, aiding them to establish their doctrines by defending the refutations from other schools and also refuting the viewpoints of other schools while claiming supremacy of their own theories.