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Naya, Nayābhāsa and Niksepa
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permanence and impermanence. Out of the two poles of a binary, a naya focuses on one of the two poles and neglects the other.
The seven-fold classification of nayas is most commonly accepted in different texts. Anuyogadvāra clearly mentions seven nayas: naigama, sangraha, vyavahāra, rjusūtra, śabda, samabhirūdha and evambhūta." In Svetāmbara version of Tattvārthasūtra (1.34) only first five are counted as the kinds of naya. But then sabdanaya is subdivided into three kinds: sabda, samabhirūdha and evambhūta. The reading of Tattvārthasūtra accepted in Digambara tradition mentions all the seven nayas." Siddhasenasūri in Sanmatitarka (1.4-25) mentions six nayas excluding naigamanaya. He subdivides naigama into two kinds: universalistic and particularistic. He reduces the former to sangrahanaya and the latter to vyavahāranaya. A fifth century Jaina thinker Mallavādī Kşmāśramaņa wrote Dvādaśāranayacakra in which he introduced the wheel of twelve nayas. He explains this twelvefold classification in terms of the two-fold classification into dravya and paryāya and also the well-known sevenfold classification.
The other broad classification is arthanaya and śabdanaya. Arthanaya is about the thing's own characteristics. śabdanaya is about the characteristics caused by the association of the thing with language. Through the broad category of śabdanaya Jainas indicate the fact that many a time our
"Satta mūlanayā pannattā, tamjahā - negame, sangahe, vavahāre, ujjusue, sadde, samabhirudhe evambhūte. - Anuyogadvārasūtra, sūtra 606 "Naigama-sangrah a -vyavahārarjusūtra -sabda -samabhirūdhaivambhūtā nayāḥ Sarvārthasiddhi, 1.33
