'• The founder of the Nyaya system passes under the name of (Jotama (q. v.), or, as it also occurs, Gautama (which would mean a descendant of Gotama). There is, however, nothing as yet known of the history of this personage or the time when he lived, though it is probable that the work attributed to him is, in its pres- ent shape, later than the work of the great grammarian
NYCTAGES
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NYMPHS
Panini. It consists of five books or adhydyas, each di- vided into two ' days,' or diurnal lessons, which are again subdivided into sections or topics, each of which contains several aphorisms or sutras (q. v.). Like the text- books of other sciences among the Hindus, it has been explained or annotated by a triple set of commentaries, which, in their turn, have become the source of more pop- ular or elementary treatises" (Chambers). Mr. Baner- jea, in his Dialogue on the Hindu Philosophij (Lond. 18G1, 8vo), considers the Buddhists' system as closely resembling the Nyaya system, and points out its simi- larity to and tliflferences from that of Kapila (q. v.). The latter agrees with the Nyaya in that it makes all souls eternal and distinct from body. Its evil to be over- come is the same, viz. transmigration ; and its method of release is the same, viz. Buddhi, or knowledge. They differ in that the Nyaya assumes beyond that of Kapila a third eternal and indestructible principle as the basis of matter, viz. atoms. It also assumes the existence of a supreme soul, Brahma, who is almighty and all- wise. The Sanscrit text of the Sutras of Gotama, with a commentary by Viswanatha, has been edited at Cal- cutta (1828) ;' and the first four books, and part of the fifth, of the text, with an English version, au EngUsh commentary, and extracts from the Sanscrit commen- tary of Viswanatha, by the late Dr. .T. E. Ballantyne (Allahabad, 1850-54). This excellent Enghsh version and commentary, and the celebrated essays on the Ny- aya by H. T. Colebrooke {Trans, of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. i, Lond. 1827 ; and reprinted in the Miscel- laneous Essays, vol. i, Lond. 1837), and Ballantyne, Christianity contrasted with Hindu rhilosojihy (Lond. 1850, 8vo), are the best guides for the theological student who, without a knowledge of Sanscrit, would wish to familiarize himself with the Nyaya system. See Thom- son, Outlines on Thomjht (Appendix on Hindu Logic, Lond. 1857 ) ; Ballantyne, Lectures upon the Nyaya Philosophy ; Division of the Categories of the Nyaya rhildsophy, in the Bibliotheca Indica, No. 33 and 35 ; Dictionary of the Technical Terms of the Nyaya Phi- losophy (Bombay, 1875); Barthelemj' Saint- Hilaire, Memoire sur le Nyaya; Bibliotheca Sacra, 1861, p. G73-G97.
Nyctages (from vv<jrdZiiv or vvtcrdZiiv, to najj) is the name which was given in the early Church to those who repudiated the night hours of prayer on the ground that as the day is divinely ordained for work, so the night is equally ordained for sleep and rest (Isi- dore, De Hceres. Ixiv; Paulus, De Hceres. lii; Ebrard, hi Bibl. J^fax. xxiv, 1577). They are also spoken of under the name of Dormitantes by St. Jerome in his treatise against Vigilantius.
Nyctelia {wKriXui), the name given to the festi- vals of the ancient Greeks observed in honor of Bacchus, were so called, from tv vvktI tiKhv, because the sacri- fice and other ceremonies were performed in the night. These feasts were celebrated every three years in the beginning of spring, with lighted torches, drinking, and the worst of impurities, for which reason the Romans prohibited the observance of them in Italy. See Brough- ton. Hist, of Religion, s. v.
ITyder, Johannes, a celebrated Dominican, who flourished during the Hussite Reformation, is noted as Olio of the embassj' selected by the Council of Basle to debate at Egra, in Bohemia, the case of the Hussites. But little is known of his personal history, but in the excited period of ecclesiastical strife in which he flour- ished he played no unimportant part in defence of the papal cause. See Jenkins, Life of Cardinal Julian, p. 187 sq.
Nye, Philip, an English theologian, was born about 15DG, in Sussex, He studied at Oxford, entered the Church, and was at first settled at St. Michael, and later at St. Bartholomew's, London, where he was very popu- lar as a pulpit orator. Having ventured to oppose the doctrines of the Established Church, he was obliged to
retire for some years to Holland. Appointed pastor of Kimbolton in 1640, he was one of the most zealous ad- vocates of Presbyterianism, and afterwards joined the Independents, when they were in the ascendency. lu December, 1647, he was sent by the leaders of the army, together with Marshall, to the castle of Carisbrooke, to inform the king of the vote deposing him from the throne. At the Restoration he was deprived of all of- fice, but left at liberty. He died at London Sept. 27, 1672. Wood and Calamy represent him as a violent, dangerous man ; but Stoughton, himself an Independent, pays him high tribute, and says that Nye, though one of the ablest and most active of the denomination, had no power to serve the cause of his sect, as he was sus- piciously regarded by the Royalists, and even by Par- liament. Nye wrote some controversial works. See Wood, A thence Oxon. ; Calamy, Histoi-y of Dissenting Churches ; Hook, Eccles. Biog. s. v. ; Stoughton, Eccles. Hist, of England (Ch. of Restor.), i, 45, 91, 194, 297 ; Fletcher, Hist, of the Independents, iii, 187; iv, 31. (J. H. W.)