Vedic learning started in Mithila with the expansion of Vedic and Brahmanic culture eastwards along the Ganges plain. [1] Some sources consider this centre of Brahminical study to form an Ancient Mithila University. [2] From the 12th/13th to 15th century CE it was an important centre of Nyaya Shastra and logical sciences. [1] [3]
The Ramayana refers to the court of King Janaka in Mithila, attracting scholars and philosophers. [4] In the text Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, there is reference of the famous scholarly Yajna known as Bahudakshina Yajna, in which Brahmin scholars from different parts of the Indian subcontinent participated for Shastrartha at the court of King Janaka. [5]
During the Gupta period Mithila was a center for disputes between Buddhists, Jains and Brahmins, with prominent Mimamsa authors writing defenses of Vedic ritual.[ citation needed ] Education took place through "Tols, Pathshāla and Chatušpathi or Chaupari,"[ citation needed ] with students living at the house of their teacher.
The Turkic conquests had little impact in Mithila, leaving it as "an isolated outpost and centre of Brahmanic and Sanskrit scholarship," where "Hindu scholars were able to protect the purity of their ideals and traditions." [6]
Nyaya school is one of the six schools of the Indian philosophy. Nyaya Shastra is also known as Indian Logic. The earliest text of the Nyaya school is the Nyaya Sutras. The foundational text Nyaya Sutras of the Nyaya school was founded by the Vedic sage Akshapada Gautama at his ashram known Gautam Ashram in Mithila. The period of composition of the text Nyaya Sutras is variously estimated between 6th-century BCE and 2nd-century BCE. [7] During the 9th century CE, Vachaspati Mishra was a scholar and teacher of Nyaya Shastra. He wrote several commentaries and sub commentaries on Nyaya Shastra. He wrote Nyāyasucinibandha on Nyāya-sūtras, Nyāyakānika which is an Advaita work on science of reasoning, Tattvasamikṣa and Nyāya-vārttika-tātparyaṭīkā which is a sub commentary on the Nyāya-sūtras. The place where he lived and taught is known as Vachaspati Mishra Dih located at Thadi village in the Madhubani district. [8] [9] [10] Later in the 10th century CE, Udayanacharya founded Nyayakusumanjali which reconciled the views of the two independent schools Nyaya and Vaisheshika of the Indian philosophy. [11] The location of his academy where he taught his disciples is presently known as Udayanacharya Dih in Samastipur district of the Mithila region. Nyayakusumanjali became the root for the foundation of the new version of Logic known Navya Nyaya. In 13th -14th century CE, Navya Nyaya school was founded by Gangesha Upadhyaya. He wrote Tattvachintamani which was the authoritative text in the Navya Nyaya school of the Indian philosophy. [12]
Late mediaeval Eastern schools of Brahmins were focused on Nyaya Shastra and logical sciences, in contrast to the Vedanta of southern Brahmins from the Vijayanagara cultural area. [3] According to Vidyabhusana, the science of logic developed out of parishad , councils of learned Brahmins. [13] The Mithila school of Nyaya was an Indian school of Nyaya philosophy, which flourished from the 12th-13th to the 15th century in Mithila. [14] [15]
During the mediaeval period, Shalaka Pariksha and Shadyantra Pariksha were the examinations conducted for graduation from the institution. [16] Mahesha Thakura, the founder of Darbhanga Raj, later introduced Dhaut Pariksha. [17] Students were not allowed to take any piece of written information with them after finishing their studies, to keep a monopoly on the study of Logic. [18]
Nyāya, literally meaning "justice", "rules", "method" or "judgment", is one of the six orthodox (Āstika) schools of Hindu philosophy. Nyāya's most significant contributions to Indian philosophy were systematic development of the theory of logic, methodology, and its treatises on epistemology.
Vedanta, also known as Uttara Mīmāṃsā, is one of the six orthodox (āstika) traditions of textual exegesis and Hindu philosophy. The word "Vedanta" means "conclusion of the Vedas", and encompasses the ideas that emerged from, or aligned and reinterpreted, the speculations and enumerations contained in the Upanishads, focusing, with varying emphasis on devotion and knowledge, and liberation. Vedanta developed into many traditions, all of which give their specific interpretations of a common group of texts called the Prasthānatrayī, translated as "the three sources": the Upanishads, the Brahma Sutras and the Bhagavad Gita.
Gaṅgeśa was an Indian philosopher, logician and mathematician from the kingdom of Mithila. He established the Navya-Nyāya school. His Tattvachintāmaṇi, also known as Pramāṇacintāmaṇi, is the basic text for all later developments. The logicians of this school were primarily interested in defining their terms and concepts related to non-binary logical categories.
The Nyāya Sūtras is an ancient Indian Sanskrit text composed by Akṣapāda Gautama, and the foundational text of the Nyaya school of Hindu philosophy. The date when the text was composed, and the biography of its author is unknown, but variously estimated between 6th-century BCE and 2nd-century CE. The text may have been composed by more than one author, over a period of time. The text consists of five books, with two chapters in each book, with a cumulative total of 528 aphoristic sutras, about rules of reason, logic, epistemology and metaphysics.
The development of Indian logic dates back to the Chandahsutra of Pingala and anviksiki of Medhatithi Gautama ; the Sanskrit grammar rules of Pāṇini ; the Vaisheshika school's analysis of atomism ; the analysis of inference by Gotama, founder of the Nyaya school of Hindu philosophy; and the tetralemma of Nagarjuna.
The Smartatradition, also called Smartism, is a movement in Hinduism that developed and expanded with the Puranas genre of literature. It reflects a synthesis of four philosophical strands, namely Uttara Mīmāṃsā, Advaita, Yoga, and theism. The Smarta tradition rejects theistic sectarianism, and is notable for the domestic worship of five shrines with five deities, all treated as equal – Ganesha, Shiva, Shakti, Vishnu and Surya. The Smarta tradition contrasted with the older Shrauta tradition, which was based on elaborate rituals and rites. There has been a considerable overlap in the ideas and practices of the Smarta tradition with other significant historic movements within Hinduism, namely Shaivism, Brahmanism, Vaishnavism, and Shaktism.
Vachaspati Mishra, was a ninth or tenth century Indian Hindu philosopher of the Advaita Vedanta tradition, who wrote bhashya (commentaries) on key texts of almost every 9th-century school of Hindu philosophy. He also wrote an independent treatise on grammar, Tattvabindu, or Drop of Truth, which focuses on Mīmāṃsā theories of sentence meaning.
Raghunatha Shiromani was an Indian philosopher and logician. He was the head of the Ancient Mithila University also known as Mithila Vidyapeeth. He was born in a brahmin family at Nabadwip in present-day Nadia district of West Bengal state. He was the grandson of Śulapāṇi, a noted writer on Smṛti from his mother's side. He was a pupil of Vāsudeva Sārvabhauma. He brought the new school of Nyaya, Navya Nyāya, representing the final development of Indian formal logic, to its zenith of analytic power.
Udayana, also known as Udayanācārya, was an Indian philosopher and logician of the tenth century of the Nyaya school who attempted to devise a rational theology to prove the existence of God using logic and counter the attack on the existence of God at the hands of Buddhist philosophers such as Dharmakīrti, Jñānaśrī and against the Indian school of materialism (Chārvaka). He is considered to be the most important philosopher of the Nyāya tradition.
Tattvachintamani is a treatise in Sanskrit authored by 14th-century CE Indian logician and philosopher Gangesa. The title may be translated into English as "A Thought-jewel of Truth." The treatise is also known as Pramāṇa-chintāmaṇi.
India has a long tradition of rhetoric about politics, philosophy, and religion, starting from ancient times.
Vasudeva Sarvabhauma was an Indian Philosopher and a scholar of Nyaya Shastra. He is also known as Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya. He lived around 13th to 14th century of the Common Era. He belonged to Nabadwip and went to Mithila for studying Nyaya Shastra in Ancient Mithila University. He was a student of Pakshadhara Mishra, the head professor of Nyaya Shastra in the Ancient Mithila University at that time. He memorized the entire texts of learning available there and then returned to Nabadwip to establish his own school for the study of logic He was one of the founders of Navya Nyaya School of Indian Philosophy.
Pakshadhara Mishra was a 15th-century Indian philosopher from the Mithila region and the founder of the Nyaya Shastra sampradaya in the tradition of Gaṅgeśa. He was a practitioner of the Nyaya Shashtra during the 15th century CE. Notable pupils of his pupils include Vasudeva Sarvabhauma and Raghunatha Siromani.
Vedic Parishad or Parishad was a council of learned Brahmins and scholars in the ancient India. It is also known as Brahmasabhā. The Vedic Parishad was headed by a chief judge. The chief judge was called as Dharmādhikārin. It was often a kind of religious court in Vedic and Brahmanical period. It was the sovereign assembly to the meeting of learned Brahmins for discussion and debate between the scholars. According to R K Mukherjee, the Parishad resembles with the university of students belonging to various colleges. Parishad represents conducting debates under the chairmanship of its president. In ancient times, Parishad was the assembly of learned scholars called by the king to decide on the subjects of Vedas, Vedanga, Dharmashastra, religion etc. The decision taken by the Parishad was universal.
Dhaut Pariksha or Dhout Pariksha was the highest examination system established in Mithila during the Darbhanga Raj Kingdom.
Shalaka Pariksha was an examination system for graduation degree in ancient Mithila.
Upaskara is a commentary on the Kanada's Vaisheshika Sutra of the Indian philosophy. It was written in the Sanskrit language by the Indian philosopher Sankara Mishra of Mithila.
The University of ancient Nadia was a learning centre in the tradition of the Brahmanical System of Education in Bengal. It was one of the prominent centres for Sanskrit learning in the ancient Indian subcontinent. It became popular for the study of Navya Nyaya Shastra also known as New Logic. Navya Nyaya was the new version of the ancient Nyaya school of the Indian philosophy. It was situated at the confluence of the Ganga and Jalangi rivers in the present Nadia district. It had three centers for imparting education. They were Navadvipa, Gopalpura, and Shantipur.
Naiyayika is referred to a follower of the Nyāya school of the Indian philosophy founded by the Vedic sage Akshapada Gautama. Its plural form is Naiyayikas. The scholar who study and specialises in the field of Nyaya Shastra is known as Naiyayika. The Naiyayikas are also called as logicians.
In Mithila we get references to altogether three types of examinations during the period under review : ( i ) Shalaka Pariksha , ( ii ) Dhout Pariksha , and ( iii ) Shadyantra Pariksha .