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Vada in Theory and Practice: Studies in Debates, Dialogues and Discussions in Indian Intellectual Discourses c5.s3: Reverting the Gaze

Vāda in Theory and Practice: Studies in Debates, Dialogues and Discussions in Indian Intellectual Discourses c5.s3

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English

Reverting the Gaze

c5.s3.1

A thorough understanding of the *pūrva-pakṣa* (the prima facie view) is required to start a *vāda*.²⁶ There are philosophers who could present the opponent’s view with such exact comprehension that we can restore some of the lost philosophical systems only through the debate that was carried on in their refutation.

c5.s3.2

For a real *vāda*, the argument should be meaningful. It is true that there were debates in which facts were distorted, reasoning were mutilated, and arguments were not properly utilized. Kālidāsa had perhaps witnessed debates with meaningless arguments. Duṣyanta in *Abhijñānaśākuntala* says: *kiṁ vṛthā tarkeṇa anviṣyate* (what is to be sought by futile arguments?). Dharmakīrti, a renowned Buddhist philosopher has given an account of futile debates (see Chap. 3). In *Milindapañho*, cited here as an example of one of the most intense and profound debates (see Chap. 2), there are many presumptuous statements by Nāgasena, the great preceptor, with reference to geography and history. In one of his illustrations, Nāgasena describes several rivers like Sarayū and Vetravatī as having streamed from Himalayas (p. 141). Sometimes beliefs into supernatural phenomena are also aired (p. 148). But for more than two millennia, Indian culture has thrived because of real good debates.

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