First Principal of the Jaina Philosophy

Author(s): Hirachand Liladhar Zaveri
Publisher: Jaina Vividh Sahitya Shastramala

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INTRODUCTION.
In several important respects the theology of the Jain Church differs from the other great Hindu schools, representing a more ancient and in some cases an independent standpoint, which has a peculiar interest to the student of the history of thought. The divergence is strongly marked in the case of the Jain system of logic, which has a peculiar character of its Own. The three pillars of Jain doctrine are the classification of being, the Saptabhangi or sevenfold mode of predication, and the nayas or modes of conception. The second of these seems to have been discovered by Mahavira, the founder of modern Jainism for whose dialectical warfare it furnished a powerful weapon, and the third may be attributed in its principles to him, while the first was apparently derived. from the earlier school of Parsvanatha, on which Mahavira based his doctrine. A succinct summary of this scholastic system has hitherto been wanting in English, and Mr. Jhaveri's able attempt to supply the need will, I trust, meet with the success that it deserves, both in Europe and in India.
LONDON.
L. D. BARNETT.
June 7, 1910.