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A SOURCE-BOOK IN JAINA PHILOSOPHY
the pot is made up of clay or some metal like brass. It cannot be made out of sand. Similarly, the characteristic and function of the cloth would be a cover. If the pot is not able to perform its function of holding water, then it would no longer be called a pot. Similarly, if a piece of cloth does not possess the qualities of covering or the function that the cloth has to perform, it would be no longer be called a piece of cloth. These are the inherent characteristics. If these distinctions in the functions of different objects were not to be recognised, then there would be no difference between a quantity of manure and a similar quantity of jaggery. In this sense, the function of the predication of affirmation has its importance in presenting the selfidentity of the objects.
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SECOND PREDICATION (SYAD-NASTI)
The second predication is the predication of negation. It is Syad-nāsti. It expresses that in a particular context with reference of the other nature of the objects (para catuṣṭaya), there is the predication of negation. This predication has reference to the four-fold expression of the other forms and nature of the objects like the material out of which it is made, the place, the time and its nature. From the points of view of its nature, other than its own and its expression of other forms like place, time and the material out of which it is made, the pot is not a pot. For instance, the pot would be a pot and would function as a pot only, if it had its own characteristics. With reference to the other characteristics like its creation out of different materials like sand and its other place and time, it would not be pot, because it may not function as an object holding water. This predicition of negation from the other point of view is also important and the predicational forms would not be complete without the predication of negation. Vidyanadi says that the predication of negation has a reference to the other nature and the presence of opposite characteristics. If the negation were to be applied to the object with reference to its own nature, then the real nature of the pot would not be understood, and, infact, the nature of the pot as pot would no longer be existent. Similarly, if the negation were to be predicated
1 Tattvartha Slokavārtika 1, 6, 52.
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