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JAINISM AND KARNATAKA
T. G. KALGHATGI
I. Jainism is a religion preached by the Tirtharikaras. The first Tirthankara in this eon of the cycle of time is Rşabha and the 24th, the last Tirthařkara is Vardhamana Mahāvira. He carried the tradition of the previous Tirthaikaras. Jainism is a pre-Aryan religion which prevailed in India long before Mahävira and Pārśva, the last two Tirthankaras'. It belongs to the Sramaņa current of thought.
Jainism has made a significant contribution to the stream of Indian thought in its fundamental concepts of Anekānta and Ahimsa. These concepts are logical and ethical in content.
The concept of Anekānta with its logical expression in Syādvāda is the special and significant contribution of Jaina thinkers to Indian thought. It states that reality is complex. It can be looked at from different points of view. Each point of view gives the picture of reality which is as valid and real as the picture of reality received from other points of view. The point of view is the naya. There are several points of view. Seven points of view have been mentioned. Among them the noumenal (niscaya) and the phenomenal (vyavahāra) points of view are important. For instance, jiva can be described as spiritual substance, pure and simple from the noumenal point of view; but from the phenomenal point of view it is the doer and the enjoyer of the fruits of karma. Each naya presents a partial picture of truth. But to say that it is the sole truth is dogmatism, ekanta. Jainism, therefore, gives a synoptic view of reality.
Syadvāda is the logical expression of nayavāda in propositional forms. Anekānta is the foundational principle. Naya is the analytical approach to the understanding of the problem. It is epistemological in content. And Syādvāda is synthetic. It is logical in expression, in sevenfold proposition. It is the formulation of the possibility of reconciling the apparent contradictions in the
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