According to Nyaya logic, which of the following is a faulty argument containing an unproven (baseless) middle term?

ASound is eternal because it is produced.

BFire is cool, so it is matter.

CThe sky-lotus is fragrant because it is a lotus, like the lotus in the lake. ✓ Correct

DThe hill is unfathomable because it is knowable.

Correct answer: (C) The sky-lotus is fragrant because it is a lotus, like the lotus in the lake.

Explanation

The faulty argument is "The sky-lotus is fragrant because it is a lotus", whose subject has no real existence.

Fragrance is inferred of a sky-lotus on the ground that it is a lotus.

But a sky-lotus does not exist at all, so there is no locus to bear the middle term.

A reason needs a real substratum in which it can reside and operate.

When the very subject is unreal, the middle term is unestablished for want of a locus.

This baseless, locus-less reason is the ashrayasiddha (unproven-locus) hetvabhasa.

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