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Śri Rāmānujācarya and Jainism
51
lowing the Jaina anekānta doctrine viz., "in a certain sense, the thing has anekānta nature "and" in a certain sense, it does not have anekānta nature and so on, then we will be led into a Paradoxical situation or circularity (The central Philosophy of Jainism, p.57).
Another general objection against the Syādvāda or Saptabhanginaya (Seven-fold Predication) is that, why should we accept only seven predicates, why not accept several altenatives ? Instead of accepting only seven alternative predicates, we can go upto a hundred or an unlimited number. Kumārila Bhatta has pointed out that 'even one hundred alternatives can be generated through generous use of the method used by the Jainas to generate only seven alternatives (A9F1YHIGH TT957 379 Gear Mimāṁsāślokavārtika).
Jaina philosophers, beginning from Akalanka and Vidyānanda, were aware of these criticisms of Anekāntavāda and they have tried to answer them all in their writings. Akalanka in Pramāṇasangrah mentions seven demerits of the Anekāntavāda pointed out by the critics, such as doubt (Samśaya), contradiction (virodha), lack of conformity of bases (vaiyadhikaraṇya), joint fault (ubhayadosa), infinite regress (anavasthā), intermixture (sankara) and absence (abhāva). Vidyānanda notes eight faults of Anekāntavāda shown by the critics. He omits 'joint fault' from the list of Akalanka but adds two more viz., cross-breading (vyatireka) and the lack of comprehension i.e. arthāpatti (Astasahasrī, p. 227). Prabhācandra, also mentions eight defects of anekānta pointed by the opponents (Prameyakamal
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