Book Title: Jaina Philosophy of Language
Author(s): Sagarmal Jain
Publisher: Parshwanath Vidyapith

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Page 102
________________ (76) : Jaina Philosophy of Language in order to express itself, is called sākānksa' (with mutual expectancy) term; and the number of sākārkșa terms, which fulfil the need together, make a unit called sentences. Thus, according to Jaina philosophers whereas the terms used in a sentence are relative, the sentence itself, in making the comprehension of its meaning, is non-relative. Thus, according to the Jaina philosophers, there is a relativity of terms but the group of terms remains non-relative. Terms are essential points of a sentence and the sentence produced by them is an absolute unit. The sentence is a whole structure made of part-units. It is a complete creation made of incomplete units. Different views on the nature of sentence and their appraisal? To present the different views of Indian philosophers regarding philosophy of sentence, Prabhācandra, in his Prameya-kamala-mārtanda has quoted two verses from Vākyapadiya, which briefly introduce the different concepts regarding the definition and nature of the sentence, prevalent in those days." Ākhyātaśabdaḥ, sanghāto jāti-sanghātavartini/ Eko’navayava sabdaḥ kramo buddhyanusamhịtiḥ || Padmādyam, pithakasarvapadam, sākārksamityapi/ Vākyaṁ prati matirbhinnā bahudhā nyāyavādināml/ Vākyapadiya-2/1-2 In above mentioned verses Bhartặhari says 'A sentence has been characterised by 'logicians' (Nyāyavādins) in at least eight ways: (1) as verb (ākhyāta), (2) as a collection of linguistic forms (šabda-samghāta), (3) as the proper universal (jāti), that occurs in the collection (samghātavartinī), (4) as a single partless linguistic form, (5) as a sequence (of words), (6) as what hangs together in the intellect (buddhyanusamhrti), (7) as the first word (pada ādya), and (8) as all the words severally possessing expectancy (for each other, prthakasarvapadasākāmsā). In Indian philosophy, we find two viewpoints regarding the nature of a sentence. According to the grammarians, a sentence is a whole unit. They don not regard terms in a sentence much important, for without a Jain Education International For Private & Personal Use Only www.jainelibrary.org

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