Jain Journal 2002 10

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

Page 49

BOOK REVIEWS Nagin J. Shah. Essays in Indian Philosophy. Sanskrit-Sanskriti Granthamälä 6, Ahmedabad, 1998. Pages 152. Rs. 120.00
Nagin J. Shah. Jainadarśana mein Śraddhā (Samyagdarśana), Matijñāna aur Kevalajñāna ki Vibhāvana. Samskrta-Samskrti Granthamālā 8, Ahmedabad, 2000. Pages [8] + 64+ index. Rs. 50.00. The author of the two works under review needs no introduction. His contributions to the study of the various schools of Indian philosophy have been widely acclaimed by scholars both home and abroad. His translation of Jayantabhaṭṭa's Nyāyamañjarī (āhnika-s 19) into Gujarati is perhaps the only rendering of the work available in any modern Indian (or European) language. The scholarly world is also indebted to him for discovering and bringing out the editio princeps of Cakradhara's Nyāyamañjarī-granthibhanga, the only known commentary on the work, and his three-volume study on it in English. He is a prolific writer both in English and Gujarati. His recently published works are welcome to all who are interested in different aspects of Indian philosophy in general and Jainism in particular.
The first book, as the title says, is a collection of articles on various aspects of Indian philosophy, not merely Jainism. Shah as usual invites the reader to accompany him to such exciting areas as the nature of time and the Jain conception of space which will be of immense interest to the enquirers in the philosophy of science. He also deals with some much discussed matters but does so from an original point of view (e.g., the essays on the conception of Isvara in the Patanjala Yoga and the early Nyaya-Vaiścṣika schools). Other studies are concerned with nirvāņa, problems of jñānadarśana and Dharmakirti's theory of knowledge. The last two essays are on logic - the question of vyapti and the Jain approach to testimony as an instrument of knowledge.
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Shah does not merely summarize the views of ancient philosophers, he scrutinizes them with an open mind and expresses his own opinions quite candidly. For instance, the study, 'Jains on Testimony' ends with the following remark:
All the differences pointed out by the Jain logicians between inference and testimony are trivial and do not make sufficient ground for their view that testimony is a source independent of inference. (pp. 148-49)