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९४
जैन विद्या के आयाम खण्ड-६
having for its objects all the earlier letters arranged in due order, and this memory added to the direct cognition of the last letter (acognition that yet persists) is what is called the grasping of the whole word. So there is no need of positing sphotawhich is neither ever perceived nor can ever be inferred.
(2) If letters uttered one after another cannot generate cognition of the whole word made up of these letters, then how can they uttered one after another manifest an impartite sphota?
The fourth chapterexpounds Jaina philosophy of sentence and sentential meaning. Regarding the question as to what a sentence is, there are various views. Dr. Jain first presents the Jaina view, then gives an account of other views andexpounds some salient points of Jaina criticism of these views.
Jainathinkers define a sentence as a non-expectant or expectation-freegroup of mutually expectantwords. The noteworthy point is that a sentence is a group of words. It is not something that is produced by words. It is not an effect of words. It is not different from words the manner an effect is different from its causes or causal aggregate. It is or causal aggregate. It is not something over and above the words. It is not something different from and over and above its constituent words the way the Nyāya-Vaiśesika whole (avayavas) is different from and over and above its constituent parts (avayavas). It is nothing but words that have come together. What is it that causes them to come together? It is their mutualexpectancy. They expect one another. No word which is notexpected by any member word of the group finds its place in the group. Any group of words is not a sentence. That group of words in which the member words expect one another is called a sentence. The group of words expecting one another is itself free from any expectation, it is complete in itself.
Now we take up other views for discussion one by one. Some contend that action word (verb) is a sentence. They mean to say that of all the words in a sentence it is action word that is principal, primary and main and all other words are subordinate to it. In criticism Jainas observe that even action wordexpects other words in a sentence. Other words in a sentence are as important as action word. So action word should not be regarded as principal and others subordinate to it and hence action word should not be considered as a sentence.
Accordingtosome, a group of words itself is not a sentence but it is some common entity (jāti) presentin this group of words that is called asentence. Thus on the modelof Nyāya-Vaiseśika universal they conceive a sentence which is one residing in many words and is different from words. The Jainacriticism of this conception of a sentence is exactly the same as their criticism of the Nyāya-Vaiseśika universal.
According to grammarians a sentence is nothing but sphota which is one unitary impartite eternal entity manifested by words. The reasons that led grammarians to posit sabda-sphota led them to posit vakyasphota. And we know main points of Jaina criticism of sphotatheory.
Some propound that the special order of the words in a group is a sentence. Mere co-existence of words in a group should not be regarded as a sentence. But it is the special order(krama) obtaining among the words in a group, that should be regarded as a sentence. Words, when they are in special order, assume sentencehood. So this special order has a right and legitimate claim to sentencehood. Moreover, these thinkers maintain that temporal proximity between words is necessary and that temporal gap between words breaks the order of words and leads to the abortion of a sentence. Again, they believe that the immediately succeeding word somehow assists the immediately preceding one. Jainas concede that in the structure of a sentence the order of words is an important factor. But they dislike the attempt of these thinkers to elevate the orderto the status of a sentence. Again, they point out that mutualexpectation of words necessarily implies this order.
Some contend that acollection of words that is made in the intellect of hearers is a sentence. When after having heard words one after another words expecting one another- a hearer collects them in his intellect, they assume the
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