Akshapada Gautama

The next time someone tells you Sanatan Dharma is illogical or unscientific, show them this.

They’ve clearly never heard of Nyāya - our ancient Indian system of logic, which focused on how to acquire true knowledge using reason, debate, and real-world evidence.

Meet Akshapada Gautama, who authored the Nyāya Sūtras sometime between 150 BCE to 100 CE - though some say as early as 6th century BCE.

Either way, this man built the original Indian framework for logical thinking.

His core idea? Right knowledge leads to liberation. Wrong knowledge keeps you in bondage.

And to get right knowledge, he laid out four pramāṇas or valid methods of knowing:

+ Pratyaksha (perception)

+ Anumana (inference)

+ Upamana (analogy)

+ Shabda (trustworthy testimony)

Using these, we can understand everything from indriyas (senses), manas (mind), and buddhi (intellect) to karma, artha (objects), and ātman (the self).

To test a claim, he laid out a logical method - start with samshaya (doubt), define a prayojana (purpose), make a pratijna (thesis), give a hetu (reason), cite an udaharana (example), lay out its application as upanaya, and conclude with the inference called nigamana.

For Akshapada, debate wasn’t a game - it was a sacred method. So he defined vada (truth-oriented dialogue), but also exposed lower forms like jalpa (debate for victory) and vitanda (just attacking without offering a view).

And the Western concepts we learn in school like logical fallacy, ad hominem, strawman, or circular logic? Our culture already defined these centuries ago under terms like hetvābhāsa (fallacies), chala (semantic tricks), and jāti (false rebuttals).

Later thinkers like Vātsyāyana, Uddyotakara, Udayana, and Gaṅgeśa took his legacy further - making Nyāya the backbone of argumentation in every other Hindu darśana, especially for proving God, soul, and liberation.

So yes - Nyāya is āstika. It upholds the Vedas, ātman, Īśvara, and karma.

So it’s not faith versus reason. It’s faith through reason.

In conclusion, Sanatan Dharma didn’t teach blind belief. It gave you a logic lab before there were labs.

Comment “LOGIC” below and I’ll DM you books, resources, and videos to explore more.