Q. With reference to Indian history, consider the following pairs:

Historical personKnown as
1.Aryadeva—Jaina scholar
2.Dignaga—Buddhist scholar
3.Nathamuni—Vaishnava scholar

How many pairs given above are correctly matched?

  • None of the pairs
  • Only one pair
  • Only two pairs
  • All three pairs

Answer: (c) Only two pairs

Notes:
  • Āryadeva (3rd century), was a Mahayana Buddhist monk, a disciple of Nagarjuna and a Madhyamaka philosopher, is a central figure in the development of early Indian Madhyamaka philosophy.
  • Dignaga was the early 6th century Indian Buddhist Monk and was also the founder of Indian logic, Hetu Vidya. He was born in Simhavakta near Kanchipuram.
  • Sri Ranganathamuni, popularly known as Sriman Nathamuni, was a Vaishnava theologian who
    collected and compiled the Nalayira Divya Prabandham    . Considered the first of Sri Vaishnava
    āchāryās, Nathamuni is also the author of Yogarahasya, and Nyāyatattva.
Buddhist Scholars:

Dignaga (480 AD-540 AD):

  • Dignaga’s work laid the groundwork for the development of deductive logic in India and created the first system of Buddhist logic and epistemology.
  • His Philosophy: 
    • Pratyaksha (awareness to acquire information) 
    • Anumana (type of cognition to be aware of general attributes)
    • Apohavada and language: (interpretation of conventional and symbolic signs to be conventional instances of inference)
  • His works: 
    • Pramana-samuccaya (perception, language and inference)
    • Abhidharmakosa-marma-Pradip (Abhidharmakosha’s Summary).
    • Nyaya-mukha: (Introduction to logic)
    • A summary of the Mahayana Astasahasrika-prajnaparamita sutra 

Dharmakirti:

  • Dharmakirti is associated with the Yogacara and Sautrantika schools.
  • He was one of the primary theorists of Buddhist atomism.
  • His philosophy:
    • Epistemology:  (instruments of knowledge, i.e., perception and inference)
    • Metaphysics: (real is only the momentarily existing particulars, and any universal is unreal and a fiction)
  • His works include Sambandhaparikshavrtti, Pramanaviniscaya, Pramavarttika-karaka.  

Chandrakirti (600 CE-650 CE):

  • Chandrakirti was a Buddhist scholar of Madhyamaka school.
  • His philosophy:
    • Two truths
    • The nature of conventional truth
    • Prasanga and reasoning
    • Buddhahood
  • His works include Mulamadhyamaka-vrtti-prasannapada, Madhyamakavatara, Yuktisasthika-vrtti.