example would be the presumption that
a traveler had reached his or her desti-
nation after the train’s arrival time had
passed. According to Indian philosophy,
this is not a true inference, since the lat-
ter must always be confirmed by direct
perception. In the same way, abhava or
the perception of any absence (e.g., the
absence of some object before one)
could not be accounted for by any of
the existing pramanas, and thus
required this new one to explain it.
Aside from Jaimini, the two most sig-
nificant figures among the Mimamsas
are Kumarila and Prabhakara, who
both lived in the seventhcentury. For
further information see Karl H. Potter,
Presuppositions of India’s Philosophies,
1972; and Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and
Charles A. Moore (eds.), A Sourcebook in
Indian Philosophy, 1957.
Pushan
In the Vedas, the oldest and most
authoritative Hindu religious texts,
Pushan is one of the deitiesidentified
with the Sun. Due to this connection,
Pushan is described as the witness to all
things; he is also considered to be the
keeper and protector of flocks, and
bringer of prosperity. By the turn of the
common era, and perhaps significantly
earlier, his presence had almost com-
pletely disappeared, and today he
remains only historically important.Pushan
(2) In Hindu mythology, the name of an
aditya(minor deity) who attends the
sacrifice sponsored by the demigod
Daksha. The sacrifice is a disaster, since
Daksha insults the god Shiva by not
inviting him to the ceremony. When
Daksha’s daughter Sati, who is also
Shiva’s wife, inquires why Shiva has
been excluded, Daksha begins to insult
her in full view of the company.
Mortified and humiliated, Sati commits
suicide. When Shiva learns of this,
he comes with his ghoulish minions
and utterly destroys the sacrifice. In
the process many of the guests
suffer injuries or indignities, and
Pushan’s teeth are broken and lost.Pushan
The city of Pushkar is built around a sacred lake used for ritual bathing.