Akṣapāda Gautama

Akṣapāda Gautama

Akṣapāda Gautama (Gotama; c. 2nd century CE); Author of the Nyāya Sūtras (major source of the Vaiśeṣika epistemological and metaphysical system).

Akṣapāda is said to be the name of Gautama, the reputed author of the Nyāya Sūtras. and trhe word is believed to mean “having his eye fixed in abstraction on his feet” [MWD. p,

3]. But it is really composed of “Akṣa” and “pāda”, and the former means “an organ of sense, sensual perception” [MWD. p. 3], and “pāda” means “a foot” [MWD. p. 611]. “Akṣapāda” means, therefore, “rooted in the senses of knowledge or perception.” Hence the system of Nyāya is called Akṣapāda system.

Indian philosophy: The logical period

The logical period of Indian thought began with the Kushan dynasty (1st–2nd centuries ce).

Gautama (author of the Nyaya-sutras; probably flourished at the beginning of the Christian era) and his 5th-century commentator Vatsyayana established the foundations of the Nyaya as a school almost exclusively preoccupied with logical and epistemological issues.

The Madhyamika...

Indian philosophy: The Nyaya-sutras

The Nyaya-sutras probably were composed by Gautama or Akshapada about the 2nd century bce, though there is ample evidence that many sutras were subsequently interpolated.