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Here, it is noteworthy that this increase in the number of the Nayas (view-points) or the Anuyogadvāras was well received by later Jaina thinkers because the earlier Ācāryas kept the door open in this regard. Siddhasena Divakara clearly mentions in his work Sanmatitarka (second half of the c. 4th A.D.) that number of view-points can be as much as the way of linguistic expressions. (Sanmatitarka, 3/47)
DOCTRINE OF SAPTABHANGI
The second main characteristic of this second phase of the development of Anekāntavāda is the doctrine of seven-fold predications or the seven ways of expressions (Saptabhangi). The concept, regarding the ways of expressions, dates back to the Vedic period. The two forms of expressions / predications - affirmation and negation, are accepted by all. These two depend on existence or non-existence. By negating both the existence and non-existence, we have a third way of expression Avyaktavya. i.e. inexpressibility. By accepting these three, a fourth way of expression was emerged, comprising both affirmation and negation. This forth way of expression is well accepted in Upanisadas and Buddhism. So far as Jainism is concerned, it is in The Bhagavati Sūtra where for the first time these different ways of expressions (Bhangas) are found. In Bhagavati-Sūtra (9/5) while dealing with the concept of Hell, Heaven and abode of Siddhas, Lord Mahāvīra mentioned only three ways of expression, i.e., affirmation, negation and inexpressibility, but while dealing with the aggregates of the different numbers of atom, he mentioned more than twenty-three ways of expressions.
Pt. Dalsukha Malvania is right when he says that of course we have seven predications or Saptabhangi in Bhagavati Sūtra.
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