Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v2.c46.s4.6

v2.c46.s4.6

Chattopadhyaya himself has described (1976: 5-7 and 1982: Volume 1, pp. 209-38) how the spirit of debate, enquiry and logic were sustained, during the early Christian era, by Caraka, Gautama and Vātsyāyana, who subscribed to the ethical principles of the Vedānta concurrently. Caraka pointed out the merit of scientific debate which ‘strengthens conviction by way of removing doubt in the pre-existing stock of knowledge, and breaks the tendency to insularism even of those that would not normally impart their own knowledge to others’ (Caraka Saṃhitā, 1.25.27, 3.8.15 and 28). In the second century AD, Gotama or Gautama wrote his famous Nyāyasūtra (which was the origin of the science of logic in ancient India) and three centuries later, Vātsyāyana wrote the equally famous commentary on it. They emphasized the importances of intellectual doubt (samasyā), critical examination of the problem (parikṣā) and final ascertainment (nirṇaya) as distinct stages in the scientific and philosophical pursuits.