Anirvachaniyakhyati means “indescribable discrimination”.
- This is a kind of error theory that attempts to explain why individuals make mistakes in judgment, such as mistaking a seashell's silvery flash for a chunk of silver.
- This idea was presented by the Advaita Vedanta philosophical school, which believes that this judgment is incorrect; yet, they also think that until one understands that the thing is merely a shell, one may perceive the silver there.
The Advaita error theory is founded on the basic notion of superimposition (adhyasa), in which one sees something that does not exist (in this case, the shell).
- This actual item serves as the foundation for the illusory impression (silver), which is a faulty projection.
According to the Advaitins, the "silver" is genuine inasmuch as it is founded on the shell, but false insofar as it is mistaken for valuable metal.
Of course, the Advaitins believe that the shell and all other “real” objects in the world are ultimately illusory since they are superimposed on Brahman, the only really actual entity in the cosmos.
Refer to Bijayananda Kar, The Theories of Error in Indian Philosophy, 1990, and Karl H. Potter (ed. ), Presuppositions of India's Philosophies, 1972, for further details.
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