Professor Ganeri, Nyayasutras, Credence and Adherence

Professor Jonardon Ganeri makes it clear in his 2001 book Philosophy in India: The Proper Work of Reason that a particular focus of his work will be on the Nyayasutras with the commentary of Gotama. His paper on Epistemic Principles still has that approach. The difference is that, he there, in a broad brush way, speaks of the Nyayasutra as Indian Philosophy as though it characterised the whole of that vast subject.

Indian versions of Revelation and Oracle, for instance, were largely dismissed.

Is this the case even in the Nayasutras themselves? Here is a citation from that work that seems to bear him out.

130.The Veda is reliable like the spell and medical science, because of the reliability of their authors.

—69.The spell counteracts poison, etc., and the medical science prescribes correct remedies. The authority which belongs to them is derived from their authors, the sages, who were reliable persons. The sages themselves were reliable because
(1)they had an intuitive perception of truths,
(2) they had great kindness for living beings and
(3) they had the desire of communicating their knowledge of the truths. The authors (lit., the seers and speakers) of the Veda were also the authors of the spell and medical science. Hence like the spell and medical science the Veda must be accepted as authoritative. The view that the Veda is authoritative because eternal, is untenable.

This would appear to reduce the Veda to the same status as spell (mantra, I presume) and medicine and therefore not an eternal or apoureshya (not of human origin) truth. However in the preceding commentary the Veda is regarded as being essentially unfalsifiable and non-empirical.

120: The so called untruth in the Veda comes from some defect in the act, operator or materials of sacrifice-
-59 Defect in the act consists in sacrificing not according to rules, defect in the operator (officiating priest) consisting in his not being a learned man, and defect in the material consisting in the fuel being wet, butter being not fresh, remuneration (to the officiating priest) being small, etc., A son is sure to be produced as a result of performing the sacrifice if these defects are avoided. Therefore there is no untruth in the Veda.

The credence required by the Veda is resistant to contrary indications unlike the deliverances of a doctor which can be discovered to be unfounded and have no empirical basis. Sabda (Testimony) in this area is of a different, essentially religious, order. It requires adherence, not cool rational judgment.
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At the commencement of the Agnihotra (Fire Ceremony) during Dasara the priests were having great trouble getting a fire stated using a bow drill and tinder. The materials were perfect and normally starting a fire this way is a brisk procedure. They were at it for quite a while before they gave up and asked the Guru to intervene. His answer was:
- You are thinking bad thoughts. Please clear your mind of them.
Which they did and there was a fine blaze in no time.