a, and not on any of
the topics of Nyaya metaphysics. But it so happened that his
discussions on anumana (inference) attracted unusually great attention
in Navadvipa (Bengal), and large numbers of commentaries and
commentaries of commentaries were written on the anumana
portion of his work _Tattvacintama@ni, and many independent
treatises on sabda and anumana were also written by the scholars
of Bengal, which became thenceforth for some centuries the home
of Nyaya studies. The commentaries of Raghunatha S'iroma@ni
(1500 A.D.), Mathura Bha@t@tacarya (1580 A.D.), Gadadhara Bha@t@tacarya
(1650 A.D.) and Jagadisa Bha@t@tacarya (1590 A.D.), commentaries
on S'iroma@ni's commentary on _Tattvacintamani, had been
very widely read in Bengal. The new school of Nyaya became the
most important study in Navadvipa and there appeared a series
of thinkers who produced an extensive literature on the subject
[Footnote ref l].The contribution was not in the direction of
metaphysics, theology, ethics, or religion, but consisted mainly
in developing a system of linguistic notations to specify accurately
and precisely any concept or its relation with other concepts [Footnote
ref 2]. Thus for example when they wished to define precisely the
nature of the concomitance of one concept with another (e.g. smoke
and fire), they would so specify the relation that the exact nature
of the concomitance should be clearly expressed, and that there
should be no confusion or ambiguity. Close subtle analytic
thinking and the development of a system of highly technical

___________________________________________________________________

[Footnote 1: From the latter half of the twelfth century to the third
quarter of the sixteenth century the new school of Nyaya was started
in Mithila (Behar); but from the fifteenth to the seventeenth century
Bengal became pre-eminently the home of Nyaya studies. See Mr
Cakravartti's paper, _J. A.S.B._ 1915. I am indebted to it for some
of the dates mentioned in this section.]

[Footnote 2: _Is'varanumana_ of Raghunatha as well as his
_Padarthatattvanirupa@na_ are, however, notable exceptions.]

309

expressions mark the development of this literature. The technical
expressions invented by this school were thus generally accepted
even by other systems of thought, wherever the need of accurate
and subtle thinking was felt. But from the time that Sanskrit
ceased to be the vehicle of philosophical thinking in India the
i