Jain Journal 1970 07

Author(s): Jain Bhawan Publication
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication

Page 28

JULY, 1970
of philosophy had been developed more fully. There were great Buddhist logicians like Dignaga and Dharmakirti. But amongst the Jainas there was no work comparable to Pramāṇasamuccaya and Nayabindu.
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Akalanka filled in this gap about the eighth century A.D. He was the first to expound the Agamic theory of pramāṇa in a pure logical way. According to the Jaina Agamas, pramāņa is of two types: pratyakşa and paroksa. Pratyakṣa is the knowledge which arises immediately in the self without the help of sense organs. 'Aksa' means the self and knowledge derived from the self directly is called pratyakṣa. Parokṣa is the knowledge which is not direct to the self but is derived with the help of the sense organs. Pratyakṣa is of three types, avadhi, manahparyaya and kevala. Parokṣa is of two types, mati and śruta. While all the systems of Indian philosophy accept as pratyakṣa all sensuous knowledge derived from the sense organs, according to the Jaina Agamas, sensuous knowledge is not pratyakṣa. Akalanka was faced with the problem, whether to accept the Agamic view of pratyaksa. or the contemporary theories of it. At first he defined pratyakşa simply as clear knowledge (visadam pratyakşam), then he classified it into two types, the samvyavahārika pratyakṣa and mukhya pratyakṣa. Knowledge derived from the sense organs was called samvyavahārika pratyakṣa and knowledge which arises directly in the self was called mukhya pratyakşa. Akalanka not only classified pratyakṣa, he also gave logical definitions of each kind of pratyakṣa. And on the basis of his definition of pratyakṣa he examined and criticised the definitions of pratyakṣa given by the other systems. Knowledge which was not visada was parokṣa or indirect, according to him. He classified paroksa into the following types: smrṛti, pratyabhijñā, tarka, anumāna and agama, all these being indirect knowledge.
Akalanka also explained the object (visaya) and the result (phala) of pramāņa in a comprehensive and logical manner. He examined and discussed all logical problems and established some new facts in the field of logic. Laghiastraya, Nyayaviniścaya, Pramanasangraha and Siddhiviniscaya were his great works. He wrote commentaries on the Tattvartha Sutra of Umasvati and Aptamimänsä of Samantabhadra which are known as Tattvärthavārtika and Aşṭasati respectively.
Vidyananda was a great commentator on Akalanka. His commentary on Akalanka's Aṣṭaśati, known as Aṣṭasahasri, is a valuable work in philosophy. Vidyananda studied thoroughly all systems of philosophy. He was specially a great scholar of Mimänsä school of