________________
Language and Truth: (123) 3. Utpanna-vigata-miśritā (Statements regarding estimates of birth and
death) 4. Jiva-miśritā ? 5. Ajīva-misritä Statements regarding the estimated living and dead live-stacks 6. Jīva-ajiva-misriā) 7. Ananta-miśritā)
Indefinite statements regarding quantity and number 8. Parimita mišritā
9. Kāla-misritā
10. Akāla-misrita
| Indefinite statements
(1) Utpanna-misritā (Statements regarding estimates of birth): Due to lack of the definite information regarding births, when we roughly estimate the numbers of births on behalf of inference, such type of statements are called Utappanna-misritā, e.g. “About ten children born in this village today”. In the present context, this statement can be said as mere presentation of inferred statistics. The inferred and uncertain statements neither can be called absolutely true nor false. They can be called only mixed language. For example: if we say that 'The population of Varanasi has reached to 10 lacs', then this statement neither be called as true nor false. Ordinarily when we make any statements with uncertainty or qualified with approximate', it falls under the category of 'utpanna-miśritā”. We can call this type of statements as approximate presentation regarding birth. The number of births stated in such statements is only approximate and not confirmed.
(2) Vigata-misrita (Statements regarding estimates of death) : According to the commentators, meaning of this type of statement is to submit an estimated number of deaths e. g. “About ten persons have died in the town today' or 'Million of people perished in the war'. Such statements are instances of Vigata-misritā statements. Such type of statements present an approximate statistics regarding past events. Like aforesaid Utpanna-misritā, this type of language can also not be called 'true' or 'false' in the absolute sense. It comes under the mixed category. While giving examples of the mixed category statements, the commentators have used the number 10 which, seems as incorrect. In
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org