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THE AGE OF LOGIC
is implicitly present there. A second noteworthy feature of the Agamic texts is the essentially dogmatic character of most of their formulations. In this connection again certain dialogues of Bhagavati seem to form exception. Nay, it is precisely such dialogues of Bhagavati where Mahavira is represented as buttressing his contention with the help of some argumentation that are mostly old and mostly important. Of course, the argumemtation seldom amounts to something more than offering a more or less striking analogy but that is what is to be expected in the case of such a generally old piece of theorization. The point is that barring the Bhagavati passages in question almost the entire bulk of Agamic texts is in the form of bold assertions. In the age of Logic something opposite happens on both these counts, for now we come across texts where the non-Jaina schools of philosophy are explicitly named and criticised and texts where assertions are always followed by more or less cogent arguments supporting them. Of course, the two tendencies grew gradually so that there are texts where they present themselves in an incipient form and texts where they do so in a pronouced form.
Viewed in this light the first important Svetambara texts belonging to the age of Logic are Siddhasena's Sanmati, Mallavadi's Nayacakra and Jinabhadra's Višeṣavasyakabhaṣya; the first important Digambara texts Kundakunda's Pañcastikāya, Pravacanasāra, Samayasāra and Samantabhadra's Aptamimamsa. And all these are the texts which we intend to assign to what we are going to call the first stage of the age of Logic. The second stage of the age is represented by the Ŝvetambara Haribhadra and the Digambara Akalanka and Vidyananda, the third stage by the Digambara Prabhāchandra and Svetambara Abhayadeva, Vadideva and Yasovijaya. In the case of each of these stages there arise important and rather intricate blems of evaluation, and so they have to be taken up one by one.
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In the case of the first stage the three Svetambara texts concerned, viz. Siddhasena's Sanmati, Mallavadi's Nayacakra and Jinabhadra's Višeṣāvasyakabhāṣya deserve careful consideration inasmuch as they vividly exemplifyeach in its own manner as to what was meant by the advent of the age of Logic. The most outstanding feature of Sanmati is its handling of the traditional doctrine of seven nayas; in fact, it will be no exaggeration to say that through it the text has set the pace for the whole subsequent age. In this connection Siddhasena skillfully shifted the centre of attention from the sevenfold division of nayas into naigama, sangraha etc. to their twofold division into dravyāstika and paryāyāstika. This way he sought to bring the doctrine of nayas into harmony with the dominant contemporary tendency of Jaina thought in the field of ontology. For as the example of Umāsvāti clearly indicates the Jainas of the period were defining reality as possessed J. O...12
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