UGC NET Questions (Paper – 1)

Drstanta is the illustrative example employed to make the vyapti between hetu and sadhya clear to the listener. By pointing to a well-known case where the same relation holds, such as smoke and fire in a kitchen, the speaker strengthens confidence in the general rule. This example plays a pedagogical role in the five-membered inference. Therefore the familiar instance described in the stem is called drstanta.

Option A:
Option A, vyapti, is the universal concomitance itself, not the particular instance chosen to display it. The drstanta is used to convey vyapti but is conceptually distinct from it.

Option B:
Option B, sadhya, is the probandum to be established in the paksha, such as "fiery", and is not an example case at all.

Option C:
Option C is correct because drstanta literally means "seen instance" and is explicitly defined in Nyaya as the member of inference that supplies a concrete illustration of the general rule.

Option D:
Option D, hetvabhasa, denotes a fallacious reason and has no role in providing supportive examples; rather, it signals a defect in reasoning.

Nyāya presents a five membered structure of inference in which dṛṣṭānta (or udāharaṇa) is the stage where an example is given to show the universal concomitance between hetu (reason) and sādhya (probandum). For instance, citing “the kitchen where there is smoke and fire” illustrates the smoke–fire relation. This concrete case helps establish the vyāpti that underlies the reasoning.

Option A:
Option A, pratijñā, is the proposition or thesis to be proved, not the example.

Option B:
Option B, hetu, is the reason or sign used in inference, such as “there is smoke on the hill.”

Option C:
Option C correctly names dṛṣṭānta as the example that demonstrates the general connection between reason and what is to be proved.

Option D:
Option D, nigamana, is the final conclusion statement that restates the thesis in light of the reason, not the illustrative example.