Prof. Muni Mahendra Kumar
There is an elaborate deliberation over the topic of 'number' in the Jain philosophy.
There are eight kinds of saṃkhā pramaṇa[1] (standards of Saṃkhya).
1. Nāma Saṃkhya- Nominal: The Saṃkhya as name of a thing or a living being.
2. Sthapanā Saṃkhya - Conventional: The arbitrary attribution of number.
3. Dravya Saṃkhya - Virtual: The person who is knower of number.
4. Aupmya-upamāna Saṃkhya - Comparative: Number explained through comparison.
5. Parimāṇa Saṃkhya - Quantitative: The extent in number (of letters, verses etc.) through which the canonical work is measured.
6. Jñāna Saṃkhya - Epistemological: What one knows.
7. Gaṇanā Saṃkhya - Mathematical: Numerical counting.
8. Bhāva Saṃkhya - Real: Here saṃkhā (Pkt.) stands for conch-shell and not number.
Here, we confine ourselves to the discussion of gaṇanā Saṃkhya (mathematical number),[2] for we have used the technical terms concerning mathematical numbers throughout this book.
The gaṇanā Saṃkhyās are of three kinds:
1. Saṃkhyāta (numerable or countable)
2. Asaṃkhyāta (innumerable or uncountable)
3. Ananta (infinite)
