Akshapada is another name of Gautama, the founder of Nyaya School (300 BCE). He is referred to in tarka vidya (science of argument) and vada vidya (science of discussion). Akshapada was in the habit of keeping his eyes directed towards his feet when walking in a contemplative mood and hence the name came into existence.
It is believed that he was born at Gautamasthana (44.8 kilometers
north-east of Darbhanga, Bihar), and spent most of his life with his wife
Ahalya in a hermitage situated on the banks of Khirodadhi river on the
outskirts of Darbhanga. He is said to have visited Prabhasa, in Gujarat.
Gautama Akshapada was the first to reduce the principle of
ratiocination in a concrete form. He depicted all this philosophical
conclusions in Nyayasutra, the opening verse of which says that supreme
felicity is received by the knowledge of the true nature of the sixteen
categories, namely, Pramana (means of right knowledge), prameya (object of
right knowledge), samsaya (doubt), prayojana (purpose), drishtanta (familiar
example), Siddhanta (established tenet), avayava (members of a syllogism),
tarka (confutation), nirnaya (ascertainment), vada (discussion), jalpa
(controversy), vitanda (cavil), hevabhasa (fallacy), chala (equivocation), jati
(similarity), and nigrahasthana (disagreement in principles). These sixteen
topics are the means to discover truth. The first nine relate to logic while
the last seven have the function of preventing and destroying error.
Gautama Akshapada is often referred to as the father of
Hindu logic and often compared with Aristotle. He concentrated more on logic
and epistemology than on theology or metaphysics and considered ignorance as the
root of all suffering. Bliss could be attained by gaining knowledge of the true
nature of things.