Jaina Philosophy Historical Outline

Author(s): Narendra Nath Bhattacharya
Publisher: Munshiram Manoharlal Publisher's Pvt Ltd New Delhi

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158 Jain Philosophy in Historical Outline
dravya stands for the substratum of qualities and actions' Thus earth, etc. are nine dravyas according to this system. In this very sense the old Āgamas like the Uttarādhyana' put forward the Jain thesis on six dravyas. The word dravva is variously interpretated in Patañjali's Mahābhāşya. According to one of these interpretations a dravya is defined as that whose basic character remains unimpared even in the midst of the emergence of newer and newer qualities. This interpretation is particularly suited to the Jain line of thought.
The term paryāya denoting changing modes in Jainism is also very old. But the technical meaning attributed to this word in Jain philosophy is to be found in no other system. The properties, peculiarities and states of a substance which originate and perish, undergo changes, are called paryāyas. Hemacandra has used the word paryāya in the sense of all the properties like qualities, actions, etc. of a substance of dravya. In the Jain texts both the words guna and paryāya are used sometimes in identical and sometimes in different meaning. Kundakunda, Umāsvāti and Pujyapāda believe that the two words have clearly distinct meanings, while Akalanka maintains that there is an identity as well as distinction between the meanings of the words guna and paryāya, a position followed by Amộtacandra as also by Siddhasena in his commentary on the Tattvārthabhāsyu. Haribhadra too accepted the thesis of identity of meaning between the words guņa and paryāya. It appears that in the earlier Jain works the two words were used indiscriminately, but the latter writers wanted to make their positions clear and started a discussion as to whether the two words were identical or different in meaning and defenced their own standpoints on the question.
Likewise the Jain writers debated on the question as to whether guna and paryāya on the one hand and dravya on the other are identical with or different from one another. The systems like NyäyaVaišeşika etc. are of the view that the qualities of a substance are different from the substance itself while systems like the Sāmkhya, Vedānta, etc. are in favour of their identity. The Jains maintain the relation of identity-cum-difference between dravya and paryāya or guņa. They hold that substance and quality are inseparable, and as such the latter cannot exist in itself. Here the relation is of pure identity, but there is also an element of difference in the nature of a substance. in its acquiring new qualities, leaving the old ones and
XXVIII, 6.