Udayana | |
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![]() Udayanacharya Statue at Udayanacharya Mandir in Kariyan village of Samastipur district in the Mithila region of Bihar | |
Personal | |
Born | 975 A.D. |
Died | 1050 A.D. |
Religion | Hinduism |
Creed | Nyaya School of Indian Philosophy |
Main interest(s) | Nyaya Shastra |
Notable idea(s) | Existence of God by Logic |
Notable work(s) | Nyayakusumanjali |
Occupation | Philosopher and Teacher |
Udayana, (Devanagari: उदयन) also known as Udayanācārya (Udyanacharya, or Master Udayana), (circa 975 - 1050 CE[2]) was an Indian philosopher and logician of the tenth century of the Nyaya school who attempted to devise a rational theology to prove the existence of God using logic and counter the attack on the existence of God at the hands of Buddhist philosophers such as Dharmakīrti, Jñānaśrī and against the Indian school of materialism (Chārvaka).[3][4] He is considered to be the most important philosopher of the Nyāya tradition.[5]
He worked to reconcile the views held by the two major schools of logic (Nyaya and Vaisheshika). This became the root of the Navya-Nyāya ("New Nyāya") school of the thirteenth century, established by the Gangesha Upadhyaya school of "right" reasoning, which is still recognized and followed in some regions of India today. He lived in Kariyan village in Mithila, near present-day Darbhanga, Bihar state, India.
Udayana wrote a sub-gloss on Vachaspati Misra's work called the Nyaya-vaartika-taatparya-tiikaa-parishuddhi.[6] He wrote several other works such as the Kusumanjali, Atma-tattva-viveka, Kiranaavali and Nyaya-parishishhta (also called Bodha siddhi or Bodha shuddhi).
He is given credit by Naiyāyikas for having demolished in a final fashion the claims of the Buddhist logicians.[7] All his known works are thought to have been preserved, attesting to the importance given to him in Indian philosophy.[8]