Become A Member

Background: Ayurveda grew in close contact with the Indian philosophical schools, and the Charaka Samhita borrows heavily from the Nyaya school in its account of valid knowledge, debate and reasoning. This borrowing is rarely treated as a coherent methodological framework. Objective: To review the concepts of pramana (means of valid knowledge), hetvabhasa (fallacious reasons) and tarka (hypothetical reasoning) as set out in the Nyaya tradition and as applied in the Charaka Samhita, and to consider their relevance for present-day Ayurvedic research. Methods: Classical Ayurvedic texts (Charaka Samhita, Sushruta Samhita, Ashtanga Hridaya) and standard works on Indian philosophy were read in translation. PubMed was searched in November 2026 for peer-reviewed literature on Ayurveda, Nyaya, epistemology and Tantrayukti. Results: The Nyaya school accepts four pramanas (pratyaksha, anumana, upamana and shabda), whereas Charaka names aptopadesha, pratyaksha, anumana and yukti, and adds a detailed method of debate (vada marga) that closely follows Nyaya categories. Fallacious reasoning is treated under the term ahetu, and hypothetical reasoning supports both diagnosis and drug action inferences. Conclusion: The Nyaya framework gives Ayurveda a disciplined logic of inquiry. Recovering it can help in framing research questions, testing causal claims and interpreting classical statements in a way that is faithful to the texts and acceptable to modern scientific readers.