40. HISTORY OF INDIAN ÆSTHETICS 43

HISTORY OF INDIAN ÆSTHETICS 43

nothing but direct contact of a sense-organ with its respective object. The knowledge arising from it is inexpressible1 in words, unerring and well-defined. Inference (Anumāna) as a means of knowledge neces- sarily presupposes direct perception. It consists in knowing indirectly what is not directly present to senses from the directly perceived. This rise to the knowledge of what is not perceived from the perceived is, according to Gautama, possible in three ways (i) Pūrvavat (ii) Seșavat and (iii) Samanyato drsta (1) Purvavat consists in inferring the imperceptible effect from the perceptible cause e.g. when we see dark and thick clouds in the sky we infer that there shall be rain.

(2) Seşavat consists in inferring the unperceived cause from the perceptible effect, e.g. when we see a river in flood, we infer that there has been heavy rainfall in upcountry. (3) Samanyato drsta2 consists in inferring one of the concomitants that is imperceptible from the other, which is generally experienced as concomitant with it : e.g. we know from ordinary experience that every horned animal has a tail. Therefore, when we see the horned head of an animal we infer that it has a tail. We may add here that Vatsyayana gives a different illustration of Samanyatodrsta. It may be stated as follows :-- We know from ordinary experience that change of place of a body is preceded by movement. Therefore, when we see that the sun changes its place we infer the movement of the sun, which is not directly perceived by us. But we have given a different illustration to bring out that Sa- manyatodrsta inference is not based on causal relation as

1. N. D. 13.

2. N. D. 15.