Pramana

In Indian philosophy, a means by
which human beings can gain true and
accurate knowledge, generally classified
as one of three types: Perception
520
Prakrit
(pratyaksha), which includes magical or
yogic insight as well as direct sensory
perception; inference (anumana),
which ultimately depends upon direct
experience; and testimony (shabda),
which can be either scriptural or the
instruction of one’s teacher. Some philosophical schools also include a fourth
source, analogy (upamana), but those
who do not recognize this categorize it
as another form of inference. The first
three are accepted by all philosophical
schools except for the materialists, who
recognize only perception. The Purva
Mimamsa school affirms two additional
pramanas—presumption (arthapatti),
and knowledge from absence (abhava)—
which they argue give one knowledge.
The root meaning of this term comes
from the verb “to measure”; thus these
are tools for measuring and interpreting
the world we experience.