The use of hemp as a narcotic is illegal,
except for specific places and times,
including certain pilgrimage sites and
festivals. However, many ascetics
continue to smoke hashish regularly.
Hero-Stones
Monuments erected on the site where a
person met a heroic death. These stones
are known as viragal. See viragal.
Hetu
(“reason”) In Indian philosophy, this is
an important part of formulating an
inference (anumana). In this context,
the word has two differing meanings,
one general, the other more obscure.
The accepted form for an inference has
three terms: a hypothesis (pratijna), a rea-
son (hetu), and examples (drshtanta);
each of these three have their own con-
stituent parts. In its most general sense, the
word heturefers to the reason or evidence
that supports the assertion in the initial
hypothesis. For example, the hypothesis
that a mountain is on firewould be sup-
ported by the reason that there is smoke on
the mountain.
In a narrower sense, hetu can also
refer to the part of a reason that proves
the hypothesis. For example, if one
proves the statement “the mountain is
on fire” with the reason “the mountain
has smoke,” the part of the reason that
indicates that there is smoke is the hetu.
Hetvabhasa
This is the term for a fallacious argument.
For a valid inference (anumana), certain
conditions must be met, or the inference
will be invalid. The accepted form for an
inference has three central terms: the first
is a hypothesis (pratijna), which contains
a subject class (paksha) and a thing to be
proved (sadhya); the second is a reason
(hetu) giving evidence for the hypothesis;
and last come examples (drshtanta),
which give further evidence for the
hypothesis. In the stock example, the
hypothesis that “there is fire on this
mountain” is making a certain claim
(sadhya)—namely, that there is fire—
about a certain class of things (paksha)—
namely, this mountain. The inference’s
second part gives the reason (hetu)
“because there is smoke on this moun-
tain,” which also makes a claim about the
subject class—namely, this mountain.
One condition necessary for a valid
inference is for the subject class to
fall within the reason given, so that in
all cases the reason would apply to it.
The statement “there is fire on this
mountain because there is smoke on
that mountain” is an example where
the subject class and the reason given
are clearly separate.
Yet the most important condition for a
valid inference is that the reason given
must account for every case of the thing
to be proved, such that it cannot be
explained in any other way. This is known
as pervasion (vyapti) and is a critical test
for the hetu. For the Indian logicians,
claiming that smoke implied the presence
of fire was a valid inference, since smoke
was always produced by fire.
On the other hand, the claim that fire
implied the presence of smoke was
invalid. This was because the logicians
could name a case in which fire was not
invariably accompanied by smoke, and
thus failing this requirement of “perva-
sion”—the case of the red-hot iron ball,
which was considered fiery, but not
smoky. This counterexample is known as
an upadhi (“obstruction”). It gives an
example when one thing does not
inevitably bring another, and thus shows
that the hetu fails to pervade the sadhya,
since there is a class of fiery things that do
not smoke. For further information see
Karl H. Potter (ed.), Presuppositions of
India’s Philosophies, 1972.Hijra
Name for a class of male transvestites,
most of whom have undergone self-
castration as a ritual renunciation of
their sexuality. Hijras often serve as
homosexual prostitutes, and they are an
established feature of the decadent
underside in most Indian cities. TheirHero-Stones