Prama
Pramā (IAST)Translation: "valid knowledge"
A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy
Sanskrit: प्रमा
Transliteration: Pramā
Translation: "valid knowledge; true knowledge (from the verb root ma = "to measure" + pra = "before or forward")"
Definition:- According to Nyāya, it is true presentational knowledge (Yathā-Ṛthānu-Bhava). It is a definite and assured cognition of an object which is true and presentational in character.
- According to the Sautrāntika and Vaibhāṣika schools, it is the identity of content between a cognition and the cognitum. This is a realist view which posits that the object determines the cognition's validity.
- According to Advaita Vedānta, it is knowledge which possesses non-contradictedness (Abādhita) and novelty (or sometimes just the former).
- According to Bhāṭṭa Mīmāṃsā, it is primary and original knowledge (Anadhigata).
- According to Prābhākara Mīmāṃsā, it is immediate experience (Anubhūti).
- According to Vaiśeṣika, it is the unique operative cause of both true presentational knowledge and memory.
- According to Jainism, it is immediate presentational knowledge and mediate knowledge insofar as they are true.
- According to Viśiṣṭādvaita Vedānta, all knowledge is of real. Its mark is that it is practically useful.
- According to Sāṅkhya, it is knowledge not previously known (Anadhigata), free from error, and above doubt.
Reference:
- Grimes, John (1996). A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy: Sanskrit Terms Defined in English. Albany: State University of New York Press
