Jaina Epistemology

SR No.: 006738
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Indra Chandra Shastri
Publisher: Parshwanath Vidyapith
Publication Year: 1990
Total Pages: 516
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 21 MB

Page 452

Darsana
ākāra means arrangement. The earlier Vaiseṣika also holds
the same view.
Parthasarathi Misra,1 the great exponent of Kumārila, views that inarticulate cognition is the apprehension of an object with its multifarious properties, such as generality, substantiality, quality, action and name etc. but they do not appear as related to one another. According to this view ākāra means relation *
Vacaspati Miśra presents the Sankhya view of immediate perception as the simple apprehension of an object, pure, unqualified and uncharacterised. In this view ākāra means qualification or characterization.3
427
The earlier Naiyayika1 maintains that there is no difference between the two except that the inarticulate cognition does not give any name to the object. As far as the cognition of substantiality, quality, generality and action are concerned they are similar to each other. Here ākāra means 'name' which resembles the Jaina conception of śruta-jñāna.
The later N.V. hold that indeterminate perception apprehends the object and its property as unrelated to each other. Here, akāra means relation.5
The Neo-Sankarites also hold that indeterminate perception is the nonrelational appearance of an object which is not necessarily sensuous in character. The old Vedantist expressed the object of immediate perception in positive terms. Here, the same is repeated in negative terms in order to avoid dialectical difficulties.
1. Prakarana Pañcikā pp. 54-5.
2. Sāstradīpikā pp. 139-140.
3. Sankhya Tattva Kaumudi K. 5.
4. Nyayabhāṣya 1. 1. 4.
5. Tattvacintamaņi Vol. I. (B. I.) p. 809
6. Vedānta Paribhāṣā p. 89