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incarnation of God. 56 Anekantavada of Jains forms the basis of Gandhi's interpretation here.
f. Anekantavada i.e. Many-ness of reality Anekantavada is the Jain doctrine of multifaceted truth based on their definition of Sat as with origination-destructionpermanence simultaneously. This implies that momentary and permanent existences are both real and co-exist i.e. opposites (like permanence and momentary) co-exist simultaneously and our knowledge about momentary existence is relative to the time, knower, state of the being and place, that leads us to develop a temperament of reconciliation. Basis of Anekantavada is the doctrine of viewpoints or Nayavada which defines Naya as special effort to acquire or impart knowledge; intention of the seeker of knowledge; expression of one out of many attributes of an entity without negating the others. Anekantavada and Nayavada are the modes of cognition and Syadvada or conditional dialectic is its expression in words/language due to the limitation of our speech faculty. Prof A. N. Upadhye, explaining the relationship between Syadvada and Nayavada, said, 'Syadvada is a corollary of Nayavada; the latter is the analytical and primarily conceptual phenomenon and Syadvada is synthetic and mainly verbal'. Syadvada is the process of assertion that curbs down and harmonises the absolute views of individual Naya.
Gandhi was very inspired by this doctrine of Anekantavada and Syadvada as these played a vital role in shaping his concept of Truth. 59 He talked of views of different people as the leaves of the same tree and perception of Truth as different for different persons and adopted this doctrine to reach the Truth, particularly in situations demanding resolution of conflicts. He also talked of the Jain example of seven blind men who gave different descriptions of the elephant and they were all right from their
Gandhi & Jainism Pg. 145
