Facets of Jain Philosophy Religion and Culture

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

Page 291

274 Anekāntaväda and Syädvāda
systems of Indian philosophy in the Saddarśanasamuccaya and its popularity among the scholars preserves the fame of Haribhadra even now.
Afterwards, we come to the great logicians Vidyānanda and Abhayadeva. Both the learned Jainas gave a very prominent place to logic (Jaina nyāya) in Jaina philosophy. Here we find a synthetic review of the Samkhya. Yoga, Vaiseșika, Advaita, Mimāms, and Buddhist philosophy. Vidyānanda in his works A.ştasähasri and Slokavārtika expounded the various logical principles of the Jainas together with the special criticim of Kumārila, a famous logician. Abhayadeva, on the other hand, is the author of a treatise on logic called Vadamahārnava or the Ocean of Discussions' a commentary on the Sanmatitarka. He is described as a lion who roamed at ease in the wild forest of books on logic.
Coming to the twelfth century, we meet Vädideva and Hemacandra, the well-known figures in Jaina literature. The former was a great debator and it is said that as a debator he seemed to have no rival. To establish the doctrine of Syadváda, he wrote Pramānanayatatīvālokālankāra and a voluminous exposition of it, called Syädvādaratnākara. Hemacandra is a most celebrated author on Jainism. He composed thirty-two verses called Anyayogavyavacchedikā, a beautiful exposition of the six systems, in a very lucid and charming language.
Last of all, we come to Upadhyāya Yaśovijaya, a man of extraordinary talent. He was a distinguished logician and he has written more than one hundred works. He has preserved a critical survey of all the Indian systems with special reference to Siromani, the greatest exponent of Modern logic of Navadvipa.33
After this in the eighteenth century there begins the period of transition and decline in Jaina philosophy.
However, the development of the doctrine of Anekāntavada has a very important and unique place in the history of Jaina literature. One of the most peculiar characteristics of the Jainas was that they had the capacity of absorbing anything good from outside and of giving it a new form. Their strong protest was against social and philosophical exclusiveness. They took a most comprehensive and synthetic view of all existing philosophies of their time. A Jaina Pandit is aptly said to view every other
33. Yasovijaya. S.C. Vidyabhusana. History of Indian Logic. P. 218.