Vada in Theory and Practice: Studies in Debates, Dialogues and Discussions in Indian Intellectual Discourses c7.s2.14

c7.s2.14

A hostile debate with a person who is inferior in knowledge or with the one who may be a peer can be conducted before a friendly assembly. If the assembly consists of neutral persons, who are attentive, prompt in listening, and equipped with knowledge, comprehension and retention; are able to respond through speech and give a rejoinder; one should carefully weigh the merits as well as the strong and weak points of the opponent. If he finds the opponent superior, he should avoid debate without apparently exhibiting the discontinuance. But where he finds the opponent inferior, he should overpower him there (on the weak points). And these are the means to subdue the inferior opponents quickly — he should overpower the opponent having no knowledge of the text by long citations from the text; the opponent weak in comprehension by producing long and difficult sentences; the opponent weak in retention of the sentences by cluster of sentences making complicated structure; the unintelligent opponent by speaking a sentence with more than one meanings; the opponent lacking in power of speech by intercepting when he has uttered half of the sentence; the unskilled opponent by putting him in an embarrassing situation; the irritant opponent by teasing; if the opponent is a coward then by terrorizing him; if he is not attentive, then by controlling him. Thus by these means one should subdue an inferior opponent quickly.⁴⁵