Vada in Theory and Practice: Studies in Debates, Dialogues and Discussions in Indian Intellectual Discourses c8.s6.1

c8.s6.1

The debates on the specific doctrinal questions as discussed above become more intense as they move to the question of scriptural authority. Even on the nature of the authority of the Veda the so-called Vedic *darśanas* differ one from the other. Kumārila regards Sāṁkhya, Yoga, Pāñcarātra and Pāśupata as *avaidika* (non-Vedic) *darśanas*.⁴⁸ Bhīmācārya in his *Nyāyakośa* classifies Sāṁkhya and Advaita Vedānta amongst the *nāstika-darśanas*. Mīmāṁsā would hold the *svataḥ prāmāṇya* — the theory that the knowledge acquired through the *pramāṇas* is valid in itself; whereas the Nyāya upholds the theory of *parataḥ prāmāṇya* (the theory that the knowledge acquired through the *pramāṇas* needs to be validated from an outside agency). This implies that the knowledge acquired even from Śruti or Veda is not valid by itself and it needs to be validated by other means of knowledge.