ABSTRACT
We have dealt with the nature and conditions of various kinds of perception. But our treatment of Indian Psychology of Perception would be inadequate without reference to the analysis of the various kinds of erroneous perceptions. Praśastapāda divides knowledge into two kinds: (1) True knowledge (vidyā) and (2) erroneous knowledge (avidyā). He subdivides the former into four kinds: (1) Perception, (2) inference, (3) recollection, and (4) higher intuition of an ascetic. He subdivides the latter also into four kinds: (1) Doubt (saṁśaya), (2) error (viparyaya), (3) indefinite and indeterminate perception due to lapse of memory (anadhyavasāya), and (4) dream (svapna). 1 Śivādtya recognizes another kind of indefinite perception called Ūha. In this chapter we shall discuss the nature of doubtful and uncertain or indefinite perceptions. In subsequent chapters of this Book we shall deal with illusory perceptions, dreams, and abnormal perceptions. Three kinds of indefinite perceptions have been analysed in the Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika literature: (1) Saṁśaya or doubtful perception; (2) Ūha or conjecture; and (3) Anadhyavasāya or indefinite and indeterminate perception due to lapse of memory. Let us consider the psychological nature of these indefinite perceptions apart from their epistemological value.
