Editing Rhetoric (section)

===India===
{{further|Ancient Indian rhetoric}}
''[[India's Struggle for Independence]]'' offers a vivid description of the culture that sprang up around the newspaper in village India of the early 1870s:
{{Blockquote|A newspaper would reach remote villages and would then be read by a reader to tens of others. Gradually library movements sprung up all over the country. A local 'library' would be organized around a single newspaper. A table, a bench or two or a ''charpoy'' would constitute the capital equipment. Every piece of news or editorial comment would be read or heard and thoroughly discussed. The newspaper not only became the political educator; reading or discussing it became a form of political participation.<ref>{{cite book|title=[[India's Struggle for Independence]]|first1=Bipan|last1=Chandra|first2=Mridula|last2=Mukherjee|first3=Aditya|last3=Mukherjee|first4=Sucheta|last4=Mahajan|first5=K.N.|last5=Panikkar|year=1987|publisher=Penguin Random House|page=[https://archive.org/details/indiasstrugglefo0000unse/page/103/mode/1up 103]}}</ref>}}

This reading and discussion was the focal point of origin of the modern Indian rhetorical movement. Much before this, ancients such as [[Kautilya]], [[Birbal]], and the like indulged in a great deal of discussion and persuasion.

Keith Lloyd argued that much of the recital of the [[Vedas]] can be likened to the recital of ancient Greek poetry.<ref>{{cite journal | last=Lloyd | first=Keith | title=Rethinking Rhetoric from an Indian Perspective: Implications in the ''Nyaya Sutra'' | journal=Rhetoric Review | publisher=Informa UK Limited | volume=26 | issue=4 | year= 2007 | issn=0735-0198 | doi=10.1080/07350190701577892 | pages=365–384| s2cid=43698162 }}</ref> Lloyd proposed including the ''[[Nyāya Sūtras]]'' in the field of rhetorical studies, exploring its methods within their historical context, comparing its approach to the traditional logical syllogism, and relating it to modern perspectives of [[Stephen Toulmin]], [[Kenneth Burke]], and [[Chaim Perelman]].

{{transliteration|sa|Nyaya}} is a Sanskrit word which means "just" or "right" and refers to "the science of right and wrong reasoning".<ref name=RadMoo>{{cite book|first1=Sarvepalli|last1=Radhakrishnan|first2=Charles A.|last2=Moore|title=A Source Book in Indian Philosophy|publisher=Princeton University Press|year=1957}}</ref>{{rp|356}}
{{transliteration|sa|Sutra}} is also a Sanskrit word which means string or thread. Here sutra refers to a collection of aphorism in the form of a manual. Each sutra is a short rule usually consisted of one or two sentences. An example of a sutra is: "Reality is truth, and what is true is so, irrespective of whether we know it is, or are aware of that truth." The ''Nyāya Sūtras'' is an ancient Indian Sanskrit text composed by [[Aksapada Gautama]]. It is the foundational text of the [[Nyaya]] school of Hindu philosophy. It is estimated that the text was composed between {{BCE|6th-century}} and {{CE|2nd-century}}. The text may have been composed by more than one author, over a period of time.<ref>{{cite book | last=Zimmer | first=Heinrich | title=Philosophies of India | publisher=Routledge | location=London | date=2008 | isbn=978-0-415-46232-7}}{{page needed|date=September 2023}}</ref> Radhakrishan and Moore placed its origin in the {{BCE|third century}} "though some of the contents of the Nyaya Sutra are certainly a post-Christian era".{{r|RadMoo|page=36}} The ancient school of Nyaya extended over a period of one thousand years, beginning with Gautama about {{BCE|550}} and ending with Vatsyayana about {{CE|400}}.<ref>{{cite book | last=Sinha | first=Nandalal | title=The Nyaya Sutras of Gotama | publisher=Motilal Banarsidass Publ. | location=Delhi | date=1990-12-31 | isbn=81-208-0748-0}}{{page needed|date=September 2023}}</ref>

Nyaya provides insight into Indian rhetoric. Nyaya presents an argumentative approach with which a rhetor can decide about any argument. In addition, it proposes an approach to thinking about cultural tradition which is different from Western rhetoric. Whereas Toulmin emphasizes the situational dimension of argumentative genre as the fundamental component of any rhetorical logic; Nyaya views this situational rhetoric {{Vague|reason=|text=in a new way which offers context of practical arguments|date=September 2023}}.

Some of India's famous rhetors include [[Kabir Das]], [[Rahim Das]], [[Chanakya]], and [[Chandragupt Maurya]].