Jaina Ontology

Author(s): K K Dixit
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

Page 24

INTRODUCTORY
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Vidyānanda (belonging to the 8th-9th century AD.) and Yašovijaya (belonging to the 18 th century A.D.). These three authors deserve special mention not only because they belong to three distinct periods of time but also because their grasp of respective contemporary systems of Indian philosophy was most thorough possible for a Jaina. Another field in which the authors of the Age of Logic specialised was that of logic and epistemology. But in this field the real beginning was made by Akalanka who came out with a list of pramāṇas that was a good match for those of his Buddhist and various Brahmanical rivals. Akalanka's list of pramānas had no Āgamic sanction behind it (though he tried to show that it had) but such was the need of the hour that not only the subsequent Digambara authors but also the subsqeuent Svetāmbara ones accepted it without reservation (of course, the latter after some amount of initial hesitation).
The Jainas of the Modern Age - i,e, Jainas of the 19th-20th Century A.D. have inherited the rich literary legacy of the Age of Āgamas as well as the Age of Logic. But the task before them is to assimilate it so as to make it serve the needs of this age. And the fair thing that has to be done in this connection is to evaluate the legacy in question by placing it in a correct historical perspective. It is just such an evaluation that is attempted in the following pages.