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CHAPTER IX
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balanced and systematic treatment of it being a special feature of Jainism-have been noticed with some degree
Nagarjuna's Mülamadhyamikakarikā, Ed. la Vallee Poussin, Bib. Bud., St. Petersbourg, 1913); and (d) the critique, on the eight doctrines, of Gautama (vide ch, IV, Āhnika, sūtras 14-43 in Gautama's Nyāyasūtras, E.T. Ganganatha Jha, Poona Oriental Series, Poona, 1939). Despite the fact that these methods are treated in the respective systems with which they are severally associated, in the spirit and form resembling the Anekantavāda, they have not been considered to be so fundamental and pervasive (vyāpaka) as they have been in Jainism. It is, therefore, no surprise that the early critics of Anekāntavāda like Dharmakīrti (see PVD, ch. III, käs. 180-1 and MV thereon, and f.n. 3), and Sankara, the earliest commentator on the Brahmasūtras of Bädarāyaṇa, make Jainism the target of their polemic against Anekantavāda. This is done on an even more elaborate scale by Arcața also (HBT, pp. 104-107).
Furthermore, some schools like the Bhedābhedavāda, especially of Bhartsprapanca whose system is even referred to as 'anekānta' (vide PMHS, Bhāşāțippaņāni, p. 62, f.n. 3); the Bhatta-Mīmāṁsā and the Sāṁkhya have an anekānta bias with respect to some of their methods and ideas. While criticising the concept of 'vaicitrya' which is so vital to Anekāntavāda, śāntarakṣita significantly attributes it to the Mimāṁsā (Vipra) as well as the Sāṁkhya (Kapila) systems also (kalpanáracitasyaiva vaicitryasyopavarnane / ko nāmātiśayah prokto vipranirgranthakāpilā// TSS, kā. 1776). Arcața, who also chiefly attributes it to Jainism and criticises, describes it as 'vaicitryam' or 'vicitram' as: vicitraṁ hi rūpam sabalamucyate; or, vicitrată ca nānāsvabhāvatā (HBT, p.104). These considerations indicate the influence which the notion of anekānta has, unwittingly or otherwise, in various forms and degrees, on the systems other than Jainism in Indian philosophy. For two further references bearing on this thesis see the next two footnotes. For a brief treatment (with occasional references to, and quotations from the texts) of this topic with regard to the non-Jaina systems see PMHS, Bhāşățippaņāni, pp. 61-63, NVVS, Prastāvanā, p. 11 ff.; and ST, Intro. 150-2.
