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The Philosophical debate is called Katha. Certain guidelines and rules are laid down for philosophical debate in Indian tradition. These are given in this text.
The Philosophical debate is classified in three categories viz., vada, Jalpa and Vitanda.
i) When the teacher and the pupil or any two friendly scholars conduct a debate in order to discover the truth or to show the truth more clearly and precisely, it is called vada.
ii) When two scholars enter into a debate to obtain the fame as a scholar or envying each other's scholarship, then, it is called Jalpa.
iii)When one of the scholar has an intention to conceil or to reject the truth and enters into an argument with such intentions, then it is called vitanda.
For a philosophical debate apart from the two contenders, one or more Prasnikas i.e., referees are necessary. These must be impartial, should be able to remove the doubts, free from the malice, and god-minded.
An important requirement of a philosophical debate in Vedanta is, one has to quote from the scripture to establish his point. The other party also should establish his contention by interpreting the scripture to support his contention. The arguments should be used only to determine the meaning of the scripture one way or the other.
In the case of Vada, the inability to determine the truth itself, is defeat. In Jalpa one who is silenced in the debate has to be blamed or fined. The same is the case in Vitanda also.
These details of the philosophical debate are also derived from Brahmatarka.