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Vol. XXXVI, 2013
Issues of Philosophy of Language in Jaina Philosophy
35
Tro
Every philosophy accepts the relation of thought and language to the some extent, although the nature of relation is different in each school. Here the question is-are language & thought two aspects of one element or different stages of repression ? Or are they different elements ? In Jain philosophy of language, thought and language are not very distinct from each other as the silence form of language is named as thought and the articulated form is named language. Thought is called mati jñāna and language is śruta jñāna.
Aksarātmaka mati jñāna is none other than indriya bodha and śruta jñāna is bhāsa jñāna. Language cannot express itself without the pre existence of thought. Śruta jñāna is posterior to mati jñāna. Actually indirya-samvedanā is the precondition of language. Without the resort of language, thought would subsist, but language endurance must not be possible without the thought.? The pure mental process is counted under the mati jñāna, like indiryasamvedanā, mānasika-samvedanā, cintana, vicāra, tarka. There are four subdivision of mati jñana -
1. Avagraha 2. Tha 3. Apaya 4. Dhāraṇā.
Language falls into Categories of these the last three elements. Avagraha does not come under the realm of language. Language must be used in other three concepts. Višesāvasyaka bhāsya and Jain Tarka Bhāṣā raises a question on the categorization of the mati jñāna. Accordingly, only avagraha should count under the.mati jñāna, because that is the only pure thought process, while the other categories are compound with language. In reply, author affirms the fact of conglomeration of language and thought as the governing element. The basic unit of the language is alphabets, which is classified into svara and vyañjana. These fundamental elements take part for conveying meaning, it is akşara. Conventionally, vowels and consonants are named akşara, but Jaina darśana defines aksara as knowledge or consciousness which has capacity of knowing meaning. Svara is the independent category. It gives base for the pronunciation of consonants since without vowels, consonants cannot be uttered.10 There are 46 letters (mātrkā aksara) in alphabets which are originated by the physical endeavor. 11. Jaina darsana sketches the structure of alphabets
1. Akrti rupa
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