________________
194
Lord Mahavira The most important use of these standpoints is of course the Anekantavada or Syadvada, which comes to this that we cannot affirm or deny any thing absolutely about any object. Every preposition is true but only under certain conditions. We may make seven assertions, seemingly contradictory but perfectly true, about a thing: It is (syadasti). It is not (syad nasti)', it is and is not (syad asti-nasti), it is indescribable (syad avaktavya)', it is and indescribable (syad asti cha avaktavyam cha)', it is not and is indescribable (syad nasti cha avaktavyam cha); A man is the father, and is not the father, and is both-these are all perfectly intelligible statments, if one understands the point of view from which they are made. In relation to a particular boy he is the father; in relation to another boy he is not the father; in relation to both the boys taken together he is the father and is not the father. Since both the ideas can not be conveyed in words at the same time, he may be called indescribable; still he is the father and is indescribable; and so on. Thus, the philosophy of Anekanta is neither selfcontradictory nor vague or indefinite; on the contrary it represents a very sensible view of things in a systematized form.46 This is equivalent to saying that knowledge is only probable.
It, however, does not mean that it only implied agnosticism or metaphysical nihilism. The negative result of such a theory of knowledge is apparently agnosticism, but even out of this the Jainas evolved a philosophy.47
Whether Syâdvada and Saptanaya dialectics were already postulated in the age of Mahâvîra is a debatable question. Jacobi feels that the theory was formulated by Mahâvîra himself but according to G. C. Pande as the early texts are silent on the Sapiabhangi dialectics it will perhaps not be unreasonable to infer that this remarkably complex and subtle theory was a later development. It is true that the Bhagavatl and Pannavana refer to the seven fold Naya, but these texts contain a good deal of later materials.48 In fact, as Jacobi has elsewhere himself pointed out, the Jainas do not associate any doctrinal innovation with Mahâvîra.49 Jaina Ethics Path to Salvation
The Moksha-marga (path to salvation) of Jainism consists of Samyag darsana (right faith), Samyak jnana (right knowledge),
