There are instances in the Dharmaśāstras in which the term anumāna has the classical, technical meaning: “inference.” For instance, in the KS:

Kane translates the first stanza as follows: “(The judge) should discern the (real) intention (or mental state) from the outward manifestations (such as sweat, horripilation), the gestures (looking down at the ground, etc.) and physical movements; the litigant becomes a losing party and he is found out (to be so) by inference (from the signs mentioned above).” The possibility for the judge to derive conclusions from certain indications in the behavior of the parties to a lawsuit was known long before Kātyāyana: examples of duṣṭalakṣaṇāni are found in Manu, Yājñavalkya (2.13–15), Nārada (1.193–96), Viṣṇu (8.18), and others. The relevant passage from Manu is as follows:

This is Bühler's translation of the first stanza: “By external signs let him discover the internal disposition of men, by their voice, their colour, their motions, their aspect, their eyes, and their gestures.” Manu merely mentions the term liṅga. It is clear, however, that the text envisages a process in which the observation of a liṅga leads to the establishment of a sādhya, to which the liṅga is related by vyāpti.