Vaishali Institute Research Bulletin 1

Author(s): Nathmal Tatia
Publisher: Research Institute of Prakrit Jainology & Ahimsa Mujjaffarpur

Page 146

SYADVADA
135
temptation and so this recognition of the role of verbal assessments is not entirely without a philosophical justification.
I have dealt with the nayas and shown that they are to be interpreted with due qualification and unqualified application of them gives distorted version of the truth. But even in a regcognized canonical text we come across statements which deal with some particular aspect of reality and these are to be understood as provisional assertions of facts (nayaśruta). It is only syidvāda unfolded in sevenfold predication which gives insight into the truth of a proposition with all its bearings.
Test nayānām ekanişthánām pravstteḥ śrutavartmani sampúrpárthaviniścãyi syādvādaśrutam ucyate/
Translation "Nayas which are cognizant of one aspect of a real are found to occur in the scriptural canon. The full knowledge of real fact is afforded by the canonical text in the form of syadvada. ... (XXX)
Elucidation There are three kinds of canon: (i) false or perverted statement; (ii) the statement unfolding a partial appraisal; and (iii) the statement of syadvada, i. e, sevenfold propositions which give a full description of a fact with all its bearings. The special characteristic of syadvāda is its freedom from dogmatism. Each proposition in it is qualified by the proviso syåt, meaning provided that it should be understood as true in relation to the context determined by the fourfold consideration as substance, its time, place and functional character (dravya-kala-ksetra. bhava).
The doctrine of syadvada or sevenfold predication is a difficult subject. We have dealt with this problem in our work The Jaina philosophy of Non-Absolutism, and refer the curious reader to it for fuller understanding of the Jaina theory. We quote from the same work the following observation. "The full formulation of the predicates will assume the form as follows: (1) existence (in a specific context); (2) non-existence in another specific context); (3) successive occurrence of both the attributes; (4) inexpressibility; 15) inexpressibility as qualified by the first predicate; (6) inexpressibility as qualified by the second; (7) inexpressibility as qualified by the third. These are seven attributes which are expressed by seven propositions. The same rule holds good of any other attribute. The seven propositions distinctly stated will be as follows: (1) The pen exists in certain context);