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First Steps to Jainism
Ścq3 :
(4) syādavaktavyahi
= may be, it is indeterminate. (5) syādasti cas avaktavya- = may be, it is and also indeter
minate. (6) syātnāsti ca avaktavyaśca = may be, it is not and also inde
terminate. (7) syādasti nästi ca avaktay- = may be, it is and it is not and yasca
also indeterminate.
2.2. The word syāt has been translated as “may be" but this does not bring out the full implications. The Sanskrit word in mentioning one possibility has also some indirect allusion to other possibilities. The Sanskrit word asri may be rendered as "it is”, “it exists", or "it is existent"; and nasti is the negation, i.e. "it is not" "it does not exist", or "it is non-existent". The third category predicates the possibility of both asri and nästi; of both “it is” and “it is not". The first three categories conform thus to the categories of classical logic and do not present any difficulty.
2.3. The fourth category is avakta vya which I have translated as “'indeterminate". Other authors have used the words "indescribable”, 4 or "inexpressible" or "indefinite”. For example, Satkari Mookerjee explains “The inexpressible may be called indefinite".... (JPN, p. 115) I prefer “'indeterminate” because this is nearer the interpretation which I have in mind.
2.4. It will be useful if at this stage I give an illustration. Consider the tossing of a coin; and suppose it turns up "head" We may then say (1) "it is "head" (now). This also implies, (2) "it is not-head" (on some other occasion). The third category follows without difficulty, (3) "it is, and it is not" which is a synthetic predicaiton based on both (1) and (2). The fourth category predicates that the position is still (4) indeterminate.
2.5. This, however, does not exhaust the possibilities of pre
1 The compound-phrase consists of two words spät (may be) and
avaktavyaḥ (or inexpressible, or indeterminate). 2 ca=and or also. 3 By rules of pronunciation the two words avaktavyah and ca are
compounded into avaktavyaśca. 4 For example, Satis Chandra Vidyabhusana in HIL and other
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