A History of Indian Medical Literature v2.c30.776

v2.c30.776

¹⁹⁶ Defined at Ca.Sū.11.21–22. See also Vi.4.4; 8.33, 40, 83. Anumāna is also mentioned at Sū.8.14 and 11.7; I.2.20 and 4.4. Compare the definitions in the Nyāyakośa. Three forms of anumāna are known, as appears from the examples given in Ca.Sū.11.21–22. These three forms resemble those of Nyāya: pūrvavat (from cause to effect), śeṣavat (from effect to cause), and sāmānyatodṛṣṭa (inference from general correlation) (the first two types are the important ones in medicine; see S. Dasgupta, 1975: II, 396). They are referred to in the Nyāyasūtras (1.1.5). The Carakasamhitā does not mention the names of the three types, but S. Dasgupta (1975: II, 398–400) regards Caraka's notions as the earliest ones known; he attributes them, however, to Agniveśa and supposes them to derive from still earlier sources. P.V. Sharma (1992d: 185) suggested that the absence of the technical Nyāya terms indicates that the Carakasamhitā is earlier than the Nyāyasūtras; this view has no solid ground because the terms belong to a later period. K.H. Potter (1977: 184) says that it is not clear what Gautama in the Nyāyasūtras meant by the three forms of anumāna and that different interpretations are found in Vātsyāyana's Nyāyabhāṣya (fifth century)