________________
( 17 )
religious in character but did in course of time undergo wonderful developments not only in religious but in other departments as well, In the departments of Logic and Metaphysics it attained the very highest development and method. There are not many metaphysicians in India like Umaswami who flourished in the first century A.D., or many logicians like Siddha-sena-divakara of the sixth and Akalanka Deva of the eighth century A. D. The Nyayavatara of Siddha-sena-divakara condenses the whole of the Nyaya philosophy within the space of 32 S'lokas. The Nyaya philosophy as founded by the Brahmanio sage Gautama was a medley of Logic, Metaphysics and Religion. Logic as a pure science would have been an impossibility but for the Jainas and the Buddhists who took up the study of Nyaya in right earnest from about 400 A.D. While editing and translating several works on Jaina Nyaya such as the Nyayavatara, Pariksha-mukha-sutra, Nyayadipika, etc., I was struck with the accuracy, precision and brevity of their system of thinking and noticed with admiration how the cld system of Nyaya philosophy was gradually developed into its present form by the Jaina logicians. A large number of these Jaina logicians compiled works on Nyaya and these constituted the most valuable works on the Nyaya system in middle ages... ... The modern system of Brahmanio logio called the Navya Nyaya founded by Gangesha Upadhyaya in the 14th century A. D., has sprung from the remains of this medieval logic of the Jainas and the Buddhists. In the department of Grammar and Lexicography the
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org