Page:The Tamils Eighteen Hundred Years Ago.djvu/232



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The following is a brief summary of the six systems of philosophy as given in the Tamil epic poem Mani-mêkalai, which I trust will be found very interesting, as it is the earliest comparative account we have of the ancient schools of Hindu philosophy: and differs in many respects from the current accounts of the six systems.

“She (Mani-mêkalai) approached the professors of philosophy, eager to know the true nature of things, and going up to the Vedic philosopher requested him to explain his tenets. (He stated that) an accurate knowledge of things may be obtained by ten means: Perception, Inference, Comparison, Authority, Implication, Propriety, Rumour, Impossibility, Reversion, and Association. The authors Veda-Vyasa, Krutakôdi and Jaimini recognised ten, eight and six of these means respectively. Correct perfection is of five kinds. It is to know colour by the eye; sound by the ear; smell by the nose; taste by the tongue; and touch by the body. To see, hear, smell, taste and touch with feelings of pain or pleasure, with life and sense and mind in perfect health, and in light and space free from any defect, and to ascertain the place, name, class, quality and action of a thing, without the faults of prejudice, incongruity or doubt is Perception.

“Inference is the mental process by which we understand the nature of an object, and it is of three kinds: by co-existence by the effect or by the cause. (Inference by) co-existence is to know the presence of an elephant on hearing its trumpeting in a forest. (Inference by) effect is to say that it has been raining on seeing floods. (Inference by) cause is to say that it will rain on seeing a dark cloud. Whether the cause and effect be past, present or future, to know the existence of a thing that is not seen by a thing that is seen, without the faults of prejudice (incongruity and doubt) is Inference