# अनुमान (anumāna)

Canonical page: https://sanskritlexicon.com/word/anumana

अनुमान (anumāna) is a Sanskrit word meaning permission, consent, drawing a conclusion from given premises, inference, consideration, reflection, guess, conjecture, one of the means of obtaining true knowledge, inference or drawing a conclusion from premises. Its 14 recorded definitions are grouped into 2 contexts, among them Inference and Reasoning, Permission or Consent.

- **Root:** 1. मा (1. mā)
- **Etymology:** E. अनु, and मा to measure, affix ल्युट् — E. anu, and mā to measure, affix lyuṭ
- **SLP1:** `anumAna`  **IAST:** anumāna  **Devanagari:** अनुमान
- **Declensions:** 48 forms — https://sanskritlexicon.com/word/anumana/declensions.md

## Meanings by context

### Inference and Reasoning (12 definitions)
- drawing a conclusion from given premises  
  *Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)*
  > [Printed book page 37,1] 2. अनु - मान (anu-māna) n. the act of inferring or drawing a conclusion from given premises [ ID=6977 ]
- inference, consideration, reflection  
  *Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)*
  > inference, consideration, reflection [ ID=6978 ]
- guess, conjecture  
  *Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)*
  > guess, conjecture [ ID=6979 ]
- one of the means of obtaining true knowledge  
  *Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)*
  > one of the means of obtaining true knowledge (see प्रमाण (pramāṇa) ). [ ID=6980 ]
- inference  
  *Wilson Sanskrit-English Dictionary*
  > अनु (anu) मा (mā) (anumā) न (anumāna) [Printed book page 034 ] अनु (anu) मा (mā) (anumā) न (anumāna) n. ( - नं (-naṃ) ) See अनु (anu) मा (mā) (anumā). E. अनु (anu), and मा (mā) to measure, affix ल्युट् (lyuṭ). [ ID=1585 ]
- 1. Inference or logical conclusion from given premises. 2. A guess or conjecture. 3. A figure of speech in rhetoric based on inference.  
  *Vaidya Sanskrit-English Dictionary*
  > अनुमान (anumāna) [Printed book page 025-11 ] अनुमान (anumāna) n. 1. Inferring as the cause of an अनुमिति (anumiti) or conclusion drawn from given premises (in Sānkhya and Nyāya phil.); 2. inference; 3. guess, conjecture; 4. a logical anacoluthon by the way of inference counted among figures of speech (in rhetoric), as in ‘wherever falls the look of woman, there fall sharpened arrows; I think, therefore, that the god of love runs before them while shooting off his arrows.’ See K.Pr. x.31, and the illustration. [ ID=1447 ]
- See anuma  
  *Shabda-Sagara Sanskrit-English Dictionary*
  > अनुमा (mā) (anumā) न (anumāna) [Printed book page 028-b ] अनुमा (mā) (anumā) न (anumāna) n. ( - नं (-naṃ) ) See अनुमा (mā) (anumā). E. अनु, (anu,) and मा (mā) to measure, affix ल्युट् (lyuṭ). [ ID=1583 ]
- 1. Inferring. 2. Argument. 3. Analogy.  
  *Benfey Sanskrit-English Dictionary*
  > अनुमान (anumāna) [Printed book page 0023-a ] अनुमान (anumāna) anumāna, i. e. anu-mā + ana, n. 1. Inferring, Bhāṣāp. 139; 140. 2. Argument, Man. 8, 144; Rām. 6, 23, 2. 3. Analogy, Vikr. 63, 13. [ ID=432 ]
- inference  
  *Cappeller Sanskrit-English Dictionary*
  > अनुमान (anumāna) [Printed book page 022 ] अनुमान (anumāna) m. inference (ph.). [ ID=1489 ]
- 1. Inferring or drawing a conclusion from given premises. 2. A figure of speech in rhetoric involving inference.  
  *Goldstücker Sanskrit-English Dictionary*
  > अनुमा (mā) न (anumāna) [Printed book page 098-a ] अनुमा (mā) न (anumāna) Tatpur. n. ( - नम् (-nam) ) 1 Inferring, as the cause of अनुमिति (anumiti) or of a conclusion drawn from given premises. According to the Sāṅkhya and Yoga-philosophies it is one of the three means (see प्रमा (mā) ण (pramāṇa) ) by which true knowledge may be ob- tained (see also प्रत्यक्ष (pratyakṣa) or दृष्ट (dṛṣṭa) and आगम (āgama) or आप्तवचन (āptavacana) ); according to the Nyāya and Vaiśeṣika phil., one of the four means for this end (see also प्रत्यक्ष (pratyakṣa), उपमा (mā) न (pratyakṣa, upamāna) and शब्द (śabda) ). Inference may be, according to the definitions of Sāṅkhya and Nyāya philosophers, either one by induction ( पूर्ववत् (pūrvavat) ) e. g. that it will rain because clouds have gathered, or one by analogy ( सामा (mā) न्यतो दृष्ट (dṛṣṭa) म् (sāmānyato dṛṣṭam) ), e. g. that moon and stars are locomotive because they change their place and that a person therefore who changes his place is locomotive; or one by ne- cessity ( शेषवत् (śeṣavat) ), e. g. that the ocean will be salt, because a drop taken from it, is salt. According to the Vaiśeṣika philosophers, inference may be either purely consecutive or positive ( केवलान्वयिन् (kevalānvayin) ), i. e. when the major term is not excluded by any other notion (comp. अनुपसंहारिन् (anupasaṃhārin) ), e. g. all that can be known can be named, because only positive (not negative instances) can be alleged to prove the asser- tion; or purely exclusive or negative ( केवलव्यतिरेकिन् (kevalavyatirekin) ), i. e. when only negative proof can be adduced, e. g. in asserting that earth is distinguished from all the other elements, be- cause it is possessed of the quality of smell, for the ar- gument would be that all that is not distinguished from all the other elements, is not possessed of the quality of Page098-b+ 56 smell; or positive and negative ( अन्वयव्यतिरेकिन् (anvayavyatirekin) ), i. e. when there exist positive and negative instances of the major term, e. g. where there is fire there is smoke, because the positive argument would be ‘on the hearth’ and the negative ‘in the lake’. (The Mīmānsā and Vedānta philosophies do not discuss these topics, as inference is not considered by them to be a means of arriving at true knowledge.) 2 (In rhetoric.) A logical anakolouthon by the way of inference, an अलंकार (alaṃkāra) or mode of writing elegantly, e. g. ‘wherever falls the look of woman, there fall sharpened arrows; I think therefore that the God of Love runs before them while shooting off his arrows’. E. मा (mā) with अनु, (anu,) kṛt aff. ल्युट् (lyuṭ). [ ID=3200 ]
- the forming of a conception  
  *Lanman's Sanskrit Reader Vocabulary*
  > अनुमान (anumāna) [Printed book page 116-a ] anumāna, n. the forming of a conception. [ √1mā + anu, ‘conceive.’] [ ID=217 ]
- 1. Inference or drawing a conclusion from premises. 2. Consideration, reflection, guess, or conjecture. 3. A means of obtaining knowledge in certain philosophical systems.  
  *Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1872)*
  > अनुमान (anumāna) [Printed book page 0037-c ] Anu-māna, am, n. the act of inferring or drawing a conclusion from given premises; inference, consi- deration, reflection; guess, conjecture; one of the means of obtaining knowledge ( pramāṇa ) according to the Sāṅkhya or Nyāya systems, but not according to the Vedānta. —Anumāna-khaṇḍa, am, n., N. of a work on inference, by Cintāmaṇi. —Anumāna- prakāśa, as, m. a similar work by Rucidatta. —Anumāna-maṇi-dīdhiti, is, f. a similar work by Raghunātha. —Anumānokti (°na-uk°), is, f. rea- soning, logic. [ ID=2452 ]

### Permission or Consent (2 definitions)
- permission, consent  
  *Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)*
  > (H2) [Printed book page 36,3] 1. अनु - मान (anu-māna) m. permission, consent, Taittirīya-brāhmaṇa (Title); Kāṭhaka (Literary category) [ ID=6967 ]
- Permission, consent.  
  *Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1872)*
  > [Printed book page 1181-c ] 2. anu-māna, as, m. (fr. anu-man ), permission, consent. [ ID=54635 ]

## Sources

Definitions from Benfey Sanskrit-English Dictionary; Cappeller Sanskrit-English Dictionary; Goldstücker Sanskrit-English Dictionary; Lanman's Sanskrit Reader Vocabulary; Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1872); Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899); Shabda-Sagara Sanskrit-English Dictionary; Vaidya Sanskrit-English Dictionary; Wilson Sanskrit-English Dictionary.
Text from the Cologne Digital Sanskrit Lexicon, University of Cologne.

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