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It is to be noted that in earlier Āgamas such as Ācārānga, Sūtrakrtānga, Uttarādhyayana etc., this concept of seven-fold view-point (Nayas) is absent. Only in Anuyogadvāra Sūtra and Nandisūtra this concept of seven-fold view-point is found, but these are the works of the c. 2nd -4th A.D. In Samavāyanga , it is an interpolation. Secondly, in Tattvārtha-sūtra (first half of c. 4th A.D.) the number of basic viewpoints are five. The Samabhirudha and Evambhuta are accepted as sub-types of Sabda Naya. Siddhasena Divakara (c. 4th A.D.) in his Sanmatitarka has accepted six Nayas, he does not mention Naigama Naya. Thus, we may conclude that the number of Nayas, as seven, was finalised later on but prior to the end of c. 5th A.D. Only with one exception of Mallavadi (c.5th), who mentions twelve Nayas in his work “Dvārasāranayacakra'. Development in the number of Nayas became stagnant because of the development of the doctrine of Anuyogadvāras, i.e. the gateways of investigation. These twelve Nayas of Mallavadi are somewhat different in their names and presentation. Though the author showed the relationship between the traditional seven Nayas and his twelve Nayas [See: Malvania D., Agama Yuga Ka Jaina Darśana, p. 312.]
Though doctrine of Anuyogadvaras (gateways of the investigation) can be traced in some of the Āgamas of later period as Bhagavati, Samavāyanga, Prajñāpanā and Anuyogadvāra Sūtra, yet the number of these gateways of investigation never remained constant. In Tattvārthasūtra, it was only eight while in Dhavala Tika of Sątkhanda-Agama its numbers were increased upto eighty. This doctrine of gateways of investigation is nothing but viewing, understanding and explaining the nature of the things with their multiple facets or aspects and thus it can also be considered as a development of Vibhajjavādaand Anekāntavāda. 185 Jainism and its History
