Tradition of Debate in India

[Robert Zydenbos]

At 15:55 15.03.99 -0500, Alok Kumar wrote:
>The tradition of Shastrath (debate) is considered to be quite old in India.
>I wonder if the list members can suggest me a book/article on the history of
>this tradition, especially in the ancient period.

B.K. Matilal has written about "Rule of Dialectic and Debate" in his _Logic,
Langauge & Reality_ (sec. 1.2). It seems that the first authors on this
topic were Jainas and Buddhists, and the Nyaaya school used the same terms
in slightly different senses; being more systematic, the description in the
Nyaayasuutra came to carry more weight (ibid.).

>Was it O.K. to question
>any doctrine or concept in the ancient period?  I would  like know with
>specific examples and references.

But of course. (If nothing could be questioned, then how could any
development take place?) Which period we you thinking of, more precisely,
and what kind of examples?

RZ