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Thinker · c. 400–450 CE

Vātsyāyana

Vātsyāyana

Vātsyāyana’s Nyāya Bhāṣya turns the terse Nyāya Sūtra into a sustained account of inquiry, debate, and the four means of knowledge.

Intellectual setting

Vātsyāyana wrote in a period when Nyāya arguments met Buddhist epistemology and other Brahmanical theories of language and knowledge.

Key ideas

Commentary as argument

The Bhāṣya explains the sūtras while defending Nyāya against rival positions.

Perception and inference

It gives a durable framework for analysing valid cognition and its conditions.

Legacy

His commentary became the indispensable starting point for later Nyāya exegesis and debate.