UGC NET Questions (Paper – 1)

Most Indian schools define pramāṇa as the valid means or instrument that produces true cognition. It highlights the causal route through which reliable knowledge arises, such as perception or inference. By distinguishing pramāṇas from non pramāṇas, philosophers separate trustworthy methods from deceptive ones. Thus pramāṇa refers to the way of knowing, not to the object or the resultant knowledge itself.

Option A:
Option A describes prameya, the object of knowledge, rather than the instrument that delivers that knowledge. Confusing pramāṇa with prameya blurs a central epistemic distinction.

Option B:
Option B correctly identifies pramāṇa as the means or instrument of valid knowledge, which is the standard definition in Nyāya and many other systems. It keeps separate the cause of knowledge from its content.

Option C:
Option C refers to doubt (saṃśaya), which is treated as a state of indecision and explicitly not as a pramāṇa. Doubt signals the need for pramāṇas rather than providing knowledge itself.

Option D:
Option D talks about memory, which usually reproduces earlier knowledge and is often not counted as an independent pramāṇa for generating new truths.