Anekāntavāda And Syādvāda: Jaina System

Finally we shall turn our attention to the treatment of the primary and secondary meaning in Jaina system. The Jaina logicians, rhetoricians, grammarians and philosophers have dealt with different aspects of meaning right from the early centuries of Christian era. For example, in the field of epistemology, the theories of Nayavāda, Syādvāda or saptabhaṅgī, Nikṣepa etc., deal with the problem of meaning and knowledge thoroughly. The terms śabdanaya and arthanaya are indicative of the linguistic views of the Jainas reflected in epistemology. Even to present a mere outline of their multifarious endeavours is beyond the scope of this paper. However, we shall discuss in brief Kundakunda's position with regard to the primary and secondary meanings.