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conceive of through the ordinary channels in more or less indefinite forms, there are two other lines of ontological investigation which owe their origin and development to the empirical knowledge of things; and these are (1) The Nayas and (2) The Saptabhangi. The first is the analytical process of ontological enquiry and the second is the synthetical treatment of things in their versetality of aspects for which reason this latter is called the Anekantavad or the Doctrine (teaching) of the Versatality of Aspects. It is these two-the Nayavad and the Anekantavad-which form, as it were, the very ground-work on which the whole structure of the Jain metaphysics is safely and securely built up.
Naya is the analytic and the Saptabhangi is the
synthetic method of study.
and function
To deal with Nayavad first, Naya is the analytical process of ontological investiga- Definition tion helping us to dive deep into the net-work of the Naya. of inter-related parts of the thing known through the ordinary means of knowledge and select, as well, one or the other attribute from the innumerable attributes, the aggregate of which makes up the being and expression of the said known thing with a
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