The verse and its meaning · Tattva · Tattva — Tarka-sangraha — Logic in One Sitting

Knowing by Comparison

Tarka Sangraha, Upamana 1

उपमितिकरणमुपमानम् । संज्ञासंज्ञिसम्बन्धज्ञानमुपमितिः । तत्करणं सादृश्यज्ञानम् । अतिदेशवाक्यार्थस्मरणमवान्तरव्यापारः । तथा हि कश्चिद्गवयशब्दार्थमजानन् कुतश्चित् आरण्यकपुरुषाद्गोसदृशो गवय इति श्रुत्वा वनं गतो वाक्यार्थं स्मरन् गोसदृशं पिण्डं पश्यति । तदनन्तरमसौ गवयशब्दवाच्य इत्युपमितिरुत्पद्यते ॥

Meaning · English

The means of knowing by comparison is the instrument of the knowledge gained by comparing. That knowledge is knowing the tie between a name and the thing it names. Its instrument is knowing a likeness. The go-between step is remembering what the statement of likeness meant. So: a man who does not know the word gavaya hears from a forest-dweller, 'A gavaya is like a cow.' He goes to the forest, remembers the sentence, and sees a cow-like body. Then it arises: this is what the word gavaya names.

The Nyaya school counts four pramanas, or means of valid knowledge: perception, inference, comparison and testimony. This sentence defines the third, upamana, comparison. The question behind it: how do you learn what a word names when you have never seen the thing? Annambhatta says the result, called upamiti, is knowing the tie between a name and the thing it names. Its instrument is knowing a likeness. Between them runs a go-between step: remembering what the description said. His example is a townsman told by a forester that a gavaya, a wild forest animal, is like a cow. In the forest he recalls that sentence, sees a cow-like animal, and the thought arises: this is what 'gavaya' names. Neither the sentence alone nor the sight alone does it. The sight, matched with the remembered sentence, does. For this reason Nyaya treats comparison as its own pramana, not a mere case of inference.

1. Next time you describe something unfamiliar to a child or friend, do it only by likeness: 'It is like a lemon, but sweet.' Notice how quickly they can name it later. 2. When you meet something new today, ask yourself what it resembles that you already know. 3. Before you take a new word or object as understood, check that you can pick it out when you meet it, not only repeat the description.

Cognitive science and linguistics agree that people often learn words from a description plus a later encounter, and that likeness to known things guides this. Children also learn names by being shown examples, and by contrast with other known words. Philosophers of language discuss this as definition by description and by pointing. Where the Nyaya view is debated is its claim that this is a separate pramana. Modern logic would usually treat it as analogy or a mix of memory, perception and inference, which is also how the Vaisheshika and Buddhist schools saw it. What remains open is how the mind judges similarity at all, since anything resembles anything in some respect.

अर्थ · हिन्दी

In this book

• Before: Four Kinds of Absence · Tarka Sangraha, Uddesha 8
• All of Tattva · Ask Krishna about it

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