Purva paksha
Purva paksha, sometimes also transliterated as Poorva paksha, literally means opponent's argument or former argument. It is a tradition in the debates of Sanatan dharma discourse. It involves building a deep familiarity with the opponent's point of view before criticizing it. The purva paksha approach has been used by Adi Shankaracharya as well as Ramanuja and later acharyas in their works.
In ancient Indian jurisprudence, purva paksha referred to the complaint, with other parts of a trial consisting of uttar, kriyaa, and nirnaya.
In his book Being Different, Rajiv Malhotra sought to use the purva paksha approach. Malhotra states that purva paksha
According to Shrinivas Tilak, Malhotra's use of purva paksha in Being Different may be regarded as a kind of "reverse anthropology." Tilak states that
