Facets of Jain Philosophy Religion and Culture

Author(s): Shreechand Rampuriya, Ashwini Kumar, T M Dak, Anil Dutt Mishra
Publisher: Jain Vishva Bharati

Page 139

122 Anekāntavāda and Syādvāda
Before we set forth the modes of syādvāda and their principal features, and, at the end, a few relavant criticism against the method as a whole, it would be helpful to remember here what has already been stated128 with regard to the two groups of factors which, together, determine the nature of a real. The first group of such factors is the positive one referring to the material (dravya) of the make, the spatio-temporal setting (kşetra and kala) and the state (bhāva), like black or red, or big or small and so forth, of a jar (ghata) which may be cited here as an example. The second group of factors is a negative one referring to the material, and so on, of things like linen (para) which form the negative counterpart (niședria-pratiyogi) of the jarness (ghatatva) of the jar. The negative counterpart (patatva, etc.) is, as has already been noticed, as much consititutive of the full-fledged nature of the jar as the positive one. These groups of factors are briefly described in Sanskrit as svadravyädicatusțaya and paradravyādicatustaya, respectively. They may be referred to, briefly, in English, as self-quaternary and other-quaternary. After these few preliminry observations we may now proceed to elucidate the nature and the modes of the method of the sevenfold predication.
Syādvāda129 (The Conditional Dialectic) or Saptabhangi (The Theory of Sevenfold Predication) Syādvāda or Saptabhangi is that conditional method in which the modes, or predications (bhangah) affirm (vidhi), negate (niședha) or both affirm and negate, severally (prthagbhūta) or jointly (samudita), in seven different ways, a certain attribute (dharma) of a thing (vastu) without incompatibility 130 (avirodhena) in a certain context
syadastitvadi saptabhangamayo vadah/ See the comm. on LTP, ka. 51. in NKC, Vol. II, p. 655). But over and above all these considerations the reason why syadvada is generally and rightly treated as synonymous with saptabhangi is that the particle syat invariably accompanies every bhanga (or mode) in saptabhangi. It would, therefore, be perfectly natural to describe saptabhangi alternatively as syadvada or the doctrine of syat. It is rather strange that this obvious reason has
not even suggested itself to Kapadia. 128. Supra. 129. Although 'syadvada' is the most popular name it has various synonyms like
samharavada, sarvavastus abalavada, akulavada sankirnavada, tadataitvavada,
and vibhajyavada. See AJP, Vol. 1, Intro. p. IX and f.n. 5 thereon. 130. Incompatibility includes not merely consistency with the other inodes, in the
method, but also with the valid knowledge, perceptual (pratyaks) or otherwise (paroksa).