Vada in Theory and Practice: Studies in Debates, Dialogues and Discussions in Indian Intellectual Discourses c2.3

c2.3

I have used the Sanskrit term *vāda* in a broad sense here and have given its nearest approximation — “debate” in bracket where *vāda* is used to denote a restricted sense. The seven chapters of this book deal with various aspects of the theory and practice of *vāda*. Since no comprehensive study in this field has so far been made (the works by Amartya Sen and A. Raghuramaraju merely touch its fringes, and the work by Esher Solomon mostly takes up the dialectic divergences) and the present study is intended to be a groundwork only, it was not possible for me to go deep into so many versatile aspects of study on *vāda*. The use of the word “Indian” in the subtitle may be termed as a misnomer. Owing to my limitations, I have mostly used Sanskrit sources for the treatment of *vāda* in theory and practice. But the intention was not to keep this work confined only to Sanskrit traditions of *vāda*; I have tried to include alternate or parallel traditions. Reference to Naryosang, Al-Beruni, Dara Shikoh or the works like *Dabistān-e-mazahib*, how so ever insufficient and scanty they may be, do indicate a broad framework for a study like this.