Canonical Niksepa

Author(s): Bansidhar Bhatt
Publisher: Bharatiya Vidya Prakashan

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INTRODUCTION
The very character of the present study calls for some explanation. As indicated in the sub-title, its subject is taken from the field of Indian "dialectics". In Indological discussions, the word "dialectics" has been employed in a very general manner, and it seems justified to use this expression even for those developments which have been described by German scholars, on more than one occasion, as the "Systematisierungssucht" and "Klassifizierungssucht" of the Indian pandits. Such an element is omnipresent in technical treatises - including their precursors and including also ramifications in semi-technical contexts. It is nevertheless natural that hitherto all the relevant works were primarily studied with reference to their contents and not with reference to structural features. Mention of the structural or "dialectical" elements was, on the whole, casual (and reserved for the general evaluation of the works). The opposite way has been chosen in the present enquiry.
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The "nikşepa" plays an important part in the post-canonical literature of the Svetämbara Jainas and in later Digambara works. But we have to distinguish between this later phase ("post-canonical niksepa") and an earlier phase ("canonical niksepa"). The post-canonical niksepa is a dialectical technique - and as such it is not only employed but also explained. By contrast, the canonical niksepa (niksepa as found in the Svetāmbara canon) is a pattern or a cluster of related patterns, and the very word "niksepa" (or a synonymous expression) does not occur. It was therefore only after a study of the post-canonical niksepa that the idea to isolate the niksepa area within the field of canonical dialectics came to our mind. This subject involves of course certain problems: In the field of canonical dialectics it is sometimes difficult to draw a line of distinction between niksepa matter and other matter. On the other hand, the canonical niksepas are simpler in their structure than the post-canonical niksepas.
Niksepas are found in many dogmatical works of the Jaina canon, but the niksepa material (canonical niksepa) is mainly found in three works: Bhagavatī (also called Vyākhyāprajñapti), Jīvābhigama, and Prajñāpanā. They cover together almost half of the entire Svetāmbara canon. There are not very many ancient comunentaries on these three works (they contain far less exegetical matter than several other canonical works). But in modern times, the Bhagavati (as the most comprehensive and most important work