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CHAPTER IX
Anekāntavāda or the Theory of Manifoldness
The Most Consistent Form of Realism
Anekāntavāda is the heart of Jaina metaphysics and Nayavāda and Syädvāda (or Saptabhangi) are its main arteries. Or, to use a happier metaphor, the bird of anekāntavāda flies on its two wings of nayavāda and syādvāda. It is beyond the scope of the present work to give a full exposition, not to mention an ample critical assessment, of even some of the most essential aspects of these three topics. The traditional viewpoints are, of course, presented in the old Prākst and Sanskrit works. But no sizeable literature, which is commensurate with the magnitude and importance of these problems, and which represents any significant effort for achieving a reorientation of these problems to the trends of modern thought, has yet come into existence although the need of such effort cannot be exaggerated. However, consistently with the aim of the present study that it should confine itself to certain important problems which have received inadequate or little attention, we may discuss, in the present chapter, how anekāntavāda—the theory of manifoldness or indetermination-manifests itself as the most consistent form of realism in Indian philosophy. A glimpse into some significant implications of nayavāda and syādvāda will also follow the inquiry into anekāntavāda.
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