Kanad Tarkavagish

Kanad Tarkavagish (15th-16th century) Sanskrit scholar and Nyaya philospher, was born in Navadvip, son of janakinath bhattacharya chudamani, a renowned scholar of Nyaya.

Kanad was a class-fellow of raghunath shiromani. He became well known as Manitikakar for his annotation Anumanamanivyakhya on Gangesh Upadhyaya's Tattvachintamani. His original books include Bhasaratnam and Apashavdakhandanam. In Bhasaratna, Kanad mentions another book of his, Tarkavadarthamanjari, which has however, not yet been found. Annotations written on Kanad's books, including Bhasaratna, played an important part in the study of Nyaya.

There was also another philosopher named Kanad from Vaishesika. Kanad's philosophy is believed to be the first attempt to analyse the theory of physics. [Suresh Chandra Banerjee]