Vada in Theory and Practice: Studies in Debates, Dialogues and Discussions in Indian Intellectual Discourses c7.s4.4

c7.s4.4

The concept of *āpta* (reliable person) has been a contentious issue between the orthodox Naiyāyikas and the Buddhists. Even the system of grammar so scientifically and meticulously cultivated under Pāṇinian tradition relied on *āptas* or *śiṣṭas*. Patañjali states that the usage of *śiṣṭa* (learned) should be accepted as the standard norm. He identifies *śiṣṭas* as “those brāhmaṇas who live in Āryāvarta (the home of *āryas*), whose daily intake of food is the grain only in one little earthen pot, who are not greedy, do not seize upon a cause and are well versed in all the Śāstras (knowledge systems)”.