UGC NET Questions (Paper – 1)

Sesavat anumana proceeds from the experience of a current effect to the conclusion that an appropriate cause has already occurred. Seeing a river in spate, one infers that heavy rain has fallen upstream. The temporal order here goes from later effect back to earlier cause. This is precisely the pattern Nyaya calls sesavat inference.

Option A:
Option A is correct because sesavat suggests "like the remainder", implying that what is now present points back to something previously existing that explains it. It captures the explanatory move from observed consequence to unobserved origin.

Option B:
Option B, purvavat, is the opposite pattern, where one infers a future effect from a present cause, and so does not match the example in the stem.

Option C:
Option C, samanyatodrsta, rests on general uniformities of co-existence that may not involve a clear causal sequence, which is different from the strongly causal flavour of the swollen river case.

Option D:
Option D, kevalanvayi, describes a pattern of vyapti based solely on positive instances and is not a temporal classification of inference.

Sesavat anumana moves from the experience of a current effect to the conclusion that an appropriate cause must have occurred earlier. Seeing a swollen river and inferring that there has been heavy rain upstream exemplifies this pattern. The temporal direction is from later effect back to prior cause. Thus the type of inference described in the stem is sesavat.

Option A:
Option A is correct because sesavat traditionally stands for inference "like the remainder," where what is now present implies something previously existing that accounts for it. It captures the explanatory move from observed consequence to unobserved origin.

Option B:
Option B, purvavat, infers future effects from present causes and thus cannot represent the effect-to-cause reasoning at issue.

Option C:
Option C, samanyatodrsta, draws on general correlations not necessarily tied to a specific causal sequence, which is different from the cause–effect structure here.

Option D:
Option D, kevalavyatireki, concerns how vyapti is established (only through negative instances) and does not directly specify temporal direction.