Tarkabhasa of Kesava Misra (study)
by Nimisha Sarma | 2010 | 56,170 words
This is an English study of the Tarkabhasa of Kesava Misra: a significant work of the syncretic Nyaya-Vaisesika school of Indian philosophy. The Tarka-bhasa is divided into Purvabhaga (focusing on pramanas) and Uttarabhaga (mainly covering prameya), with other categories briefly mentioned. The work was widely used as a beginner's textbook in southe...
7. Illusion or Misapprehention (viparyaya)
Illusion represents an object in a form which does not belong to it. According to Kumarila, Illusion reveals an object differently from what it 74 actually is. In the Yogasutra, illusory knowledge is defined thus 75 viparyayo mithyajnanamatadrupa pratistham. Here, the most common synonym of viparyaya is bhrama. Kesava Misra doesnot make a detail discussion on it. According to him, misapprehention is knowing a thing as what it is not and hence an 76 error; for instance, on seeing a piece of shell etc. which is not real silver, one apprehends it as 'this is silver'. 73. samsayasya canekakotivisayatvanniskotivisayatvadva tarkasya 74. 75. 76. samsaye'ntarbhava sambhavaditi. Sri Kesava Misra pranita Tarkabhasa p. 202. The Epistemology of the Prabhakara school of Purva Mimamsa p.27. Yogasutra 1.8. viparyayastu atasminstadgrahah. bhrame iti yavat. Tarkabhasa p.218.