Vada in Theory and Practice: Studies in Debates, Dialogues and Discussions in Indian Intellectual Discourses c6.s1.3

c6.s1.3

*Brahmodya* comprised of questions raised by one wing and answers provided from the other wing. This method is followed in the great debate or *brahmodya* between Yājñavalkya and other scholars in the court of Janaka as described in the Upaniṣad. Yājñavalkya, having been challenged by a multitude of the Brahmavādins or scholars in an assembly, suggests that either they confront him with their questions one by one or he confronts them with his questions one by one.²³ In fact, this was one of the biggest debates held in the assembly of King Janaka around 1000 BCE. It has been termed as *brahmodya* in *Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad*. Śaṅkarācārya in his *Bhāṣya* has called the whole of its proceedings as *saṁvāda-prakaraṇa*. Amongst hundreds of intellectuals present, Gārgī, a *brahmavādinī* (lady philosopher) alone could stand as a peer to Yājñavalkya. Besides Yājñavalkya, Janaka and Gārgī, several participants — all opponents of Yajñavalkya — the disputants — have been described. The disputants raise questions, counter questions and their resolutions are given by the respondent — Yājñavalkya. The extensive record of the proceedings of this debate in the Upaniṣad is one of the most valuable and authentic documentations of a philosophical debate. Even if the characters of this narrative do not belong to the history in the modern sense of the term, they are very much parts of a larger history of ideas.