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11th-Century 'Anumana-Jyoti' Manuscript on the Logic of Celestial Inference Found in a Remote Mithila Library

📅 April 5, 2026 📰 Bihar Cultural Gazette
11th-Century 'Anumana-Jyoti' Manuscript on the Logic of Celestial Inference Found in a Remote Mithila Library

A 11th-century manuscript titled Anumana-Jyoti has been discovered in the library of a remote monastery in Mithila. The text focuses on the Logic of Celestial Inference, a specialized branch of Nyaya philosophy that uses mathematical observation of the stars to validate metaphysical claims about the afterlife and the nature of the soul. It represents a rare instance where ancient Indian astronomy and formal logic are explicitly combined.

The author of the Anumana-Jyoti, a scholar identified only as Bhaskara-Datta, argues that the predictability of planetary motion serves as an empirical "linga" (sign) for the existence of an underlying cosmic intelligence. This manuscript is hailed as a vital piece of evidence for the sophisticated interdisciplinary nature of medieval Indian scholasticism.

Original source: Bihar Cultural Gazette