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could be truly enriching with an attitude of tolerance of others and their points of view. It would be contextually relevant to briefly touch upon the corollaries of anekāntavāda, that is nayavāda and syādvāda, which together reveal the functional dynamics of anekāntavāda, Naya refers to a process of understanding and analyzing an object or a reality in its varied aspects and forms. Jaina texts give a list of seven nayas covering the possible ways of understanding reality. These nayas are: Naigama naya, Sangraha naya, Vyavahāra naya, Ķjusūtra naya, Sabda naya, Samabhrirūdha naya, and lastly Evambhūta naya. Naigama naya refers to ways of understanding an object in its dual sense, that is, in both its general and specific sense. Sangraha naya refers to the tendency to find unity in diversity. Vyavahāra naya deals with particularity and focuses on diversity; it is the empirical and practical approach. Ķjusūtra naya aims at presenting the aspect of reality from the point of view of momentary present. Sabda naya emphasizes the function of word and focuses on its meaning (as different words may mean the same object). Samabhirūdha naya refers to the etymological meaning of a word and emphasizes that every word has some different meaning in accordance with its roots. This naya throws light on differences amongst synonyms. Evambhūta naya emphasizes on the specific situations and context in which a particular meaning is ascribed to a word (e.g. a servant is a servant only when he is serving). Thus, these nayas take note of different possibilities of analytic thought processes with reference to varied aspects and distinctions of the objects or of reality.
The other significant corollary of anekānta is syādavāda which takes note of these nayas or number of possibilities of thought and gives a logical and verbal expression to it in its predication form of Saptabhangi (seven-fold predication) incorporating affirmation, negation and also inexpressibility along with their combinations. These are (1) syāt-asti, (2) syātnăsti, (3) syāt-asti-năsti, (4) syāt-avyaktavyam, (5) syāt-asti-ca-avyaktavyam (6) syāt-năstica- avyaktavyam, and (7) syāt-asti-nasti-ca-avyaktavyam. All these predication forms show that from a particular point of view a thing is and form another point of view it is not and from a third point of view it is inexpressible and so on. These predications are complementary because affirmation implies the negation of its oppose and negation implies the affirmation of its opposite. Further, there is also room for inexpressibility as all these predications relate only to finite or limited ability of expressions of those who are not omniscient. Thus, in common parlance, syādvāda, thus, promotes an outlook of a many-sided approach to the
5 Umāsvāti, Tattvārtha Sūtra. Op. cit., 1-34, 35 6 Muni Phoolchandji 'Sraman', nayavāda (Agra: Sanmati Gyanpeeth, 1958) pp. 37-46
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