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THEORY OF KNOWLEDGE
AUTHORITY
We have dealt with recollection, recognition, inductive reasoning, and inference. The fifth division of non-perceptual cognition, viz., authority still remains to be defined. We now propose to
deal with it.
The knowledge produced by the word of a reliable source is called authority.1 It is also known as 'verbal testimony' or 'word.' The reliable source is that person who knows the object as it is and describes it as he knows it. He who possesses right knowledge and makes a right judgment is said to be reliable or upta. Such a reliable person cannot tell a lie. His proposition is always true. Hence, he is authority. His word' is also known as testimony. The authority is of two kinds: ordinary and extraordinary, i.e., laukika and alaukika, respectively. The ordinary authority is father, etc. The omniscient is an example of extraordinary authority.
1
113
The Agika conception of knowledge can be covered by the logical division of cognition in the following style: Avadhi-jñāna (clairvoyance), manaḥparyaya-jñāna ( telepathy) and kevala-jñāna ( omniscience) are styled as transcendental perception. Matijñāna (sensory and intellectual knowledge) is occupied by empirical perception, recollection, recognition, inductive reasoning, and inference. Śruta-jñāna (scriptural knowledge) is called authority, verbal testimony, scriptural testimony, or 'Word.'
15
Pramana-naya-tattvaloka, IV, 1.
