Vada in Theory and Practice: Studies in Debates, Dialogues and Discussions in Indian Intellectual Discourses c7.s1.1

c7.s1.1

Even though the tradition of intellectual discourses, debates and discussions was assiduously pursued for more than a millennium, it was the Nyāya philosophy that made it a part of an epistemology within the system. *Nyāyasūtra* of Gautama (sixth-fifth century BCE) discusses the theory of debate in detail. Out of the sixteen *padārthas* (categories) that are supposed to be essential for the discipline of Nyāya, the following fourteen *padārthas* are directly related to debate — *saṁśaya* (doubt), *prayojana* (purpose/motive), *dṛṣṭānta* (illustration/example), *siddhānta* (theory/tenet), *tarka* (argument), *avayava* (members of a syllogism/parts of sentence presenting the thesis), *nirṇaya* (conclusion), *vāda* (conversation), *jalpa* (debate, wrangling), *vitaṇḍā* (cavil), *hetvābhāsa* (fallacy), *chala* (trick/quibbling), *jāti* (legitimate objection/rejoinder) and *nigrahasthāna* (points of capture/checkmates/clinchers); and the remaining two — *pramāṇa* and *prameya* — are indirectly linked with debate.