Viparyaya

Viparyaya is wrong knowledge — the opposite of pramā (valid knowledge). E.g.: mistaking a rope for a snake. It is not doubt (saṃśaya — oscillation) nor absence (abhāva — nothing); it is a positive but incorrect cognition. In Vedānta, the root viparyaya is identifying ātman with non-ātman (body, mind). This viparyaya is removed by direct knowledge, as the snake disappears when one sees the rope.