UGC NET Questions (Paper – 1)

Upanaya is the step where the previously stated universal relation between hetu and sādhya, illustrated in the example, is explicitly applied to the subject under consideration. After establishing that “wherever there is smoke, there is fire,” upanaya asserts that “there is smoke on this hill,” thereby linking the universal vyāpti to the particular pakṣa. This bridging move paves the way for the concluding nigamana.

Option A:
Option A corresponds to nigamana, the concluding restatement of the thesis in light of the reason, not to the application step.

Option B:
Option B is largely the work of dṛṣṭānta, where a familiar example is used to state and illustrate the universal concomitance, not its application to the case at hand.

Option C:
Option C properly locates upanaya as the moment where the general rule is connected to the specific subject, making the inference fully anchored in the given situation.

Option D:
Option D introduces the idea of counterexamples, which would undercut the inference rather than support it; this is not the purpose of upanaya.