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ing without reference to its function then any name would be appropriate to any object with any function. Therefore, it is necessary to restrict the meaning of the word to its function in the present context. Oherwise it loses its potency.
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A SOURCE-BOOK IN JAINA PHILOSOPHY
THE INTER-RELATIONSHIP OF NAYAS
We have considered the n yas in their different aspects from the Naigamanaya to Evambhūtanaya. As we proceed from Naigamanaya to Evambhūtanaya the scope of the meaning becomes restricted and narrower at every stage.1 Naigamanaya is wider in its content because it embraces the generality and particularity, and unity and diversity. In this naya sometimes generality is given primary importance and particularity becomes secondary. Sometimes particularity is comprehended with greater emphasis and generality becomes less important. Sangrahanaya is less comprehensive than naigamanaya because it grasps only the general, the unity and not the diversity. The vyavahāranaya is less extensive and narrower than sangrahanaya, because it refers to the particularity and it is analytic only. Ṛjusūtranaya is restricted to a still narrower field, because it limits its understanding to the momentary present. It is more concerned with the modifications and not with the substance which has modifications. Śabdanaya is still narrower than ṛjusūtranaya in the sense that it is concerned with the understanding of the meaning of the word of the moment. Samabhirūḍhanaya narrows down its scope still further, because it refers to the root of the word and presents the etymological sense. Then we come to the limited field of application of the point of view in the evambhūtanaya. It refers to the meaning of the word in the present context and does not look before and after. There is a gradual narrowing down of the scope and the content of the naya from the naigama to the evambhuta. Because of this, the nayas in their various aspects have reference to each other and are related to each other in presenting the varied picture of the object in its content and meaning.
1 Tattvärtharājavārtika 1, 36.
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