Vada in Theory and Practice: Studies in Debates, Dialogues and Discussions in Indian Intellectual Discourses c6.s6.t2.14

c6.s6.t2.14

The debate probably ended in a stalemate of sorts, with each party claiming victory, and finding fault with the claims seen in written documents like the *jayapatras*. With the charge that the written documents were falsified, probably both sides were free to make statements that were contrary to what one might have found in the written documents, as the probative value of such documents was already discounted by the imputation of falsification. Thus, any possibility of verification is rejected out of hand, as all sources of information are tainted in some way, except one’s own perception of what happened as seen in Vidyādhīśa’s own words, and the perception of the followers about what must have happened. For the followers it is inconceivable that their hero could have been defeated at a debate. Positives from the received information are accentuated, and the negatives are discounted with disbelief.¹⁸⁶