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10
The Development of the Doctrine of
Anekāntavāda*
JAGDISH CHANDRA JAIN
Aneküntavāda is a fundamental doctrine which forms the key-note to the philosophy of the Jainas. It is defined as the doctrine of manysidedness which proves the validity of two contradictory statements from the point of view of two different standpoints. For example, "let us take the antithesis of the swift and the slow. It would be nonsense to say that every movement is either swift or slow. It would be nearer the truth to say that every movement is both swift and slow, swift by comparison with what is slower than itself, slow by comparison with what is swifter than itself. And so with the other antithesis?. Anekantavāda is a synthetic process which reconciles all the vexed questions of abstruse speculation which seem mutually conflicting, and helps us to acquire true knowledge. Different philosophies according to their personal, racial and historical endowment reflect different temperaments. The doctrine of Anekāntaväda or many-sidedness. taking a comprehensive view of all, shows that the different representations do not tell us what a thing is in itself but only what it is to us. In other words, according to this principle, the truth is relative to our standpoints.
This doctrine of anekantavāda finds the most important place in Jainism and on this very foundation other doctrines of the Jainas are built up. Not only this, but when this doctrine is viewed from the historical point of view, it is proved to be very ancient and popular. It is for this reason that considerable importance is given to it in the
* Review of Philosophy and religion, 5/2, 1964 1. E. Holmes : In the Quest of Ideal, p. 21.
