Jain Views on Svabhava: A Survey

“Jain Views on Svabhāva: A Survey” by Ramkrishna Bhattacharya investigates how Jain philosophers responded to the doctrine of svabhāva (“own‑nature”). The doctrine, known from the Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad, proposes that the universe arises from its own intrinsic nature rather than from God or an external cause. Over time svabhāva became associated with two opposite positions: one positing a regulated, causal universe and the other suggesting that events occur accidentally without regulation. Bhattacharya notes that most Indian philosophical schools attacked svabhāvavāda to counter both accidentalism and inactivity, and that Jain canonical texts do not refer to the doctrine by name. The ninth‑century commentator Sīlāṅka mentions it in passing, and later Jain authors occasionally remark on it, but there is no unified Jain stance. The paper surveys a range of positions expressed by Jain thinkers from the sixth to the fifteenth century. Some writers, including Sīlāṅka, Abhayadeva and Gunaratna, interpret svabhāva in a causal sense and criticise the view that the world emerges randomly. Others, such as Jinabhadragaṇi and Hemacandra, equate svabhāva with accident and dismiss it as a materialist or Cārvāka‑like doctrine. A number of philosophers take a non‑committal stance, acknowledging svabhāva but not giving it a decisive role. The most interesting position is the syncretic view advanced by Samantabhadra, Haribhadra and Siddhasena Divākara: instead of rejecting svabhāvavāda, they incorporate svabhāva as one of several factors that together constitute the ‘first cause’. This pluralistic approach aligns with the Jain doctrine of anekāntavāda (the theory of many‑sidedness) and suggests that causation involves a combination of time, nature, destiny, karma and human effort. Quotations from Haribhadra emphasise that neither svabhāva, kāla (time) nor niyati (destiny) alone can account for the existence of the world; rather, all causes operate jointly. Bhattacharya concludes that the diversity of Jain perspectives reflects the complexity of svabhāva itself. Although some Jains dismissed the doctrine as inconsistent—arguing that if everything were produced by svabhāva at once there could be no temporal succession—others saw value in synthesising it with karmic theory. The survey therefore reveals not only the historical evolution of Jain philosophical debate but also the religion’s willingness to engage with rival schools and adapt concepts to its pluralistic framework. By mapping these positions chronologically, the article provides a useful reference for scholars studying Indian metaphysics and highlights an understudied aspect of Jain intellectual history.

Summary reviewed by a volunteer editor.