Visvabandhu Tarkatīrtha’s “The Nyāya on True Cognition (pramā)”. Translated from Sanskrit and Bengali with explanatory notes

The following publication includes the translation of the paper “The Nyāya on True Cognition (pramā)” by late Mahāmahopādhya pandit Visvabandhu Tarkatīrtha (1916-2006), translated from Sanskrit and Bengali, supplemented with an introduction (including the short biographical note) and additional explanatory notes by J.L. Shaw. The text aims to discuss the Nyāya conception of truth ( pramātva ), which is a property of cognition. According to Gaṅgeśa, the founder of Navya-Nyāya, the truth cannot be considered as a class-essence ( jāti ) because there will be a defect called ‘ sāṅkarya ’ between truth ( pramātv a) and the class-essence perceptual apprehendedness ( sākṣātva ). Visvabandhu Tarkatīrtha has clarified the concepts of truth and true cognition in Navya-Nyāya, explaining the complex character of the partitiveness of truth and introducing the definitions of such characteristics of the object as non-pervasive ( avyāpya-vṛtti ) and pervasive ( vyāpya-vṛtti ). Moreover, he has also claimed that the property of being the qualificand ( viśeṣyakatva ) and the property of being the qualifier ( prakārakatva ) are related by the relation of mutual determiner-determined ( paraspara-nirūpya-nirūpaka ).