Jinamanjari 1998 09 No 18

Author(s): Jinamanjari
Publisher: Canada Bramhi Jain Society Publication

Page 19

knowledge which ascertains the whole aspect of object is called syādvāda-sruta.'(vs.29,30).
Thus two kinds of sruta are accepted ; one is svādvāda, and the other is naya. Though it is not clear, only from the above verses, whether the author had in mind three varieties of sruta as are mentioned in Siddhasena Gani's commentary, viz. mithyā-śruta (=durnaya), nayuśruta and syādvāda-sruta, yet it might be safely concluded that such division appears only after Akalanka Deva. Siddhasena Divākara was, to the writer's knowledge, the first to use the term 'svādvāda,' and it is understood by him to be a specific means to comprehend an object, together with nava, both being dependent on verbal expression.
Akalaşka Deva (c.625 - 675 C.E.)“ well-known for his Akalankanyāya, undoubtedly occupies the highest plac" in the Jaina logical literature, as a logician and doughty controversialist against opponent schools. It may be said without exaggeration that he was the first to systematise the Jaina logic and philosophy, exerting the greatest influence on later Jaina literature on that line. He divides the forms of manifestation or of function of śruta (verbal and scriptural knowledge) into three groups : durnaya, naya and syādvāda. Out of them, naya is interpreted as incomplete and partial expression (vikalădesa), and syādvāda as complete expression (sakalădesa). (Laghīyastraya v.30, 42, 43, 51, 62, 69). It is briefly stated that syādvāda consists of seven formulae, being considered from two stand-points viz. affirmation and negation. (Nyāyaviniscaya v.47) And three kinds of scriptural knowledge (śruta) are put forward as following : i) that which is derived from one's own perception according to other's indication (pratyakşa-nimittaka), ii) that which is derived from one's own reasoning and not from other's indication (anumāna-nimittaka), and iii) that which is produced by scripture (āgama-nimittaka). (Pramāṇasamgraha 1.1, p.97) On the other hand, Vadideva and others define ūgama (or sruta) as cognition derived from words of reliable person (āpta-vacana), and thus Akalanka's interpretation seems more reasonable in covering wider range of sruta or āgama. Furthermore, he puts forward eight kinds of apparent fallacies (dūșanā, doșa) and the refutation thereof, which will be later dealt with. (Pramāṇasamgraha III.24)
In passing, Mānikyanandin (c. 800 C.E.) wrote Parīkņāmukhasūtra, the first systematic compendium of Jaina logic, containing 207 sūtras, based on Akalanka's works like Nyāyaviniscaya etc., but he does not refer to svadvāda in it at all. It is also to be added here that Vidyānandin (c.775 - 825 C.E.)' and Prabhācandra (980-1065
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