Jain Journal 2012 07

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

Page 27

JAINA LOGIC OF SYĀDVĀDA-SAPTABHANGĪNAYA
Anupam Jash*
Anekāntavāda is the base of Jaina logic and epistemology. It is the basic attitude of mind which expresses that reality is many-faced which can be looked at from different points of view by different types of pramāņa. As a result various types of pramāņa are found in the Jaina philosophy so that all dimensions of reality can be know.
Not only pramāņa, the Jaina philosophers also speak of other two epistemological categories -- durnaya or durņiti and naya. According to them, we can know an object in these ways through durnaya, naya and pramāņa, Mistaking a partial truth for the whole and the absolute truth is called durnaya or bad judgment, e.g. the insistence that an object is absolutely real (sadeva). A mere statement of a relative truth without calling either absolute or relative is called naya or judgment, e.g., the statement that an object is real (sat). A statement of a partial truth knowing that it is only partial, relative and conditional and has possibility of being differently interpreted from different point of view is called pramāņa or valid judgment (syāt sat) (sadeva sat syāt saditi tridhārtho miyate durnitinayapramāņe'). Every naya in order to become pramāņa must be qualified by Syāt is said to be the symbol of truth ('syātkāraḥ satyalāñcchanaḥ'-- Samantabhadra's Āptamīmāṁsā, Verse. 1122).
Relating to this epistemological analysis, the Jaina philosophers have evolved a logical doctrine, where all the aspects of truth or reality are woven together into the synthesis of the conditioned dialectic; this doctrine is called syādvāda.
Samantabhadra in his book Āptamīmāṁsā said, "tattvajñānampramāṇam te yugapat sarvabhāsanas/kramabhāvi ca
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* Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Bankura Christian College, W.B.