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Here the ekāngadassino indicats those blind men who see only an single limb of the elephant.
This simple story indicates that the truth or the pathways of Reality can be investigated from the different angles of vision. This simple story also indicates the manysidedness of Truth, the multiple nature of Reality.
Though the Jains are the pioneers in their theory of relativity, the Buddhists as well as the Sanskrit writers arc not completely devoid of this principle and the consistency of contradictories. The andha-gajanyāya found in almost all the systems of Indian philosophy shows that the possibility of a partial truth of apparent contradictories is acknowledged by all the systems of philosophy. But the Jains say that their philosophy only visualises the whole truth (sakalādeśa), while the other systems only possess the broken truth (vikalādeśa). These two contradictories are the essence of anekāntavāda. It is a fact worth noting that though the two sects. i.e. Svetāmbaras and Digambaras, differ in many respects, but with regard to the theory of relativity they are not. For the origin of the concept of anekānta, the Svetāmbara canons can help very little. though one or two references are found.
As far as the development of anekāntavāda is concerned, it can be said that it is not very old. Though there arc some glimpses here and there in the Jain canonical literature, the real development did not start from the 5th century A.D. when the Svetāmbara Jain canonical literature was codified finally. In the Bhagavatīsūtra the process of anekāntavāda is hinted in the form of syādvāda. The author of 'Nayacakra' says -
sarva-nayānāṁ jina-pravacanasyaiva nibandhanatvāt kim asya nibandhanam iti ced ucyate. Nibandhanaṁ cāsya. 'āyā bhante nāne annāne (= ātmā jnānam ajñānam) iti svāmi Gautamasvāminā prsto vyākaroti Godamā nāne niyamā ato jñānam niyamād ātmani jñānāsyānya-vyatirekeņa vrttadarśanāt
āyāpuņa siya nāne siya annāne.'
‘All the sermons of the Jina is the source of nyāya (logic), then what is the necessity of this'? The necessity of this doctrines rests in the knowledge and ignorance of Self is the answer when asked by
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_तुलसी प्रज्ञा अंक 124
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