Vada in Theory and Practice: Studies in Debates, Dialogues and Discussions in Indian Intellectual Discourses c5.19

c5.19

There is some debate on the question whether debate lies at the genesis of Indian world-view. The myth of the Sanakādi brothers brings out the tussle between two tendencies — *karma* (action) and *vāda*. The four boys — Sanaka, Sanandana, Sanātana and Sanatkumāra — were asked to cooperate in the act of creation by Prajāpati (the Lord of Creation), immediately after they were born. They asked why they should employ themselves in the act of creating; first the Prajāpati should reply to their questions. They were banished from the *brahmaloka* immediately because of this questioning spirit.¹⁰ But they are held as great seers and authorities in Āgamas. Interestingly, almost all the Āgama texts are structured in *vāda* as dialogues between two persons, a *guru* and a *śiṣya*, or a Śiva and a Pārvatī; and the text unfolds in resolution to the doubts and replies to the queries of the *jijñāsu* (the seeker of knowledge).