________________
23
Nayavada
THE pluralistic realism of the Jainas presupposes the acceptance
I of the principle of distinction; the distinction, to start with, is of the mind and the world, but in Jainism the principle has been allowed to reach its logical conclusion, resulting in the theory of manifoldness of reality and knowledge. Reality, according to Jainism, is a complex not merely in the sense of constituting manyness (aneka) but also because of its manifoldness (anekānta). Jainism does not merely maintain that there are many reals but also accepts that each of the reals, in its turn is so complex that it is difficult to understand it fully. The infinite number of qualities possessed by the complex reals and the equal number of relations into which they enter point to the fact that Reality may be comprehended from different angles. The attempt at comprehending anything from a particular standpoint is known as naya -- a view arrived at from one angle. Dasgupta's translation of the term nayavāda into doctrine of relative pluralism is extremely significant since it points to the perspective from which nayavāda itself is to be understood. He writes : “The Jains regarded all things as anekānta (na-ekānta) or in other words they held that nothing could be affirmed absolutely, as all affirmations were true only under certain conditions."'1
Since Reality can be looked at from an infinite number of standpoints because of the possession of an infinite number of qualities,
1 op. cit., Vol. I, p. 175
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
