Jaina Philosophy

SR No.: 001180
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Mohanlal Mehta
Publisher: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan
Publication Year: 1998
Total Pages: 328
Language: English
Classification: Book_English & Philosophy
File Size: 15 MB

Page 193

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JAINA PHILOSOPHY : AN INTRODUCTION
a pitcher (kalaśa) and a pot (ghaļa) signify different things according to their meanings.' The point is that while the sabda would treat synonyms as equivalent words, the samabhirūdha would distinguish them from one another on etymological grounds. Evambhūta Naya :
It recognises an object denoted by a word only when the object is in the actual state of performing its own natural function as suggested by the derivative meaning of that word.2 The argument is that if a thing is not in the state of performing its function, as expressed by the term at the moment of recognition, and still it be recognised as that thing, then even a jar can be called a cloth, though it is not in the state of discharging the function of a cloth. Etymologically, evambhūta means 'true in its entirety to the word and the sense.' As for instance, 'go' (cow) means that which goes. If a cow is not going but sitting, she would not be called 'go' (cow) at that time. She is cow only when she goes. Province of Naya :
The dravyāstika naya and the paryāyāstika naya are not absolutely different. The dravyāstika includes in itself all those statements in which there is some sort of generality. In all such statements, there is an overlapping of the paryāyāstika also. Only that statement where there is no further possibility of particularisation falls under the strict purview of pure paryāyāstika. The point is that as a rule, every statement that deals with some sort of universality is the legitimate province of the dravyāstika. Except the ultimate statement where there is indivisible particularisation, all other statements gradually culminating in the statement of the highest universality fall
1. Ibid., 15. 2. Pramāņa-naya-tattväloka, VII.40. 3. 'Gacchatiti gauh'. 4. Sanmati-tarka-prakarana, 1. 8.