The doctrine known as Anekantavada, the teaching of non-one-sidedness or multiple viewpoints, has its roots in ancient Jainism. It is regarded as an indigenous Jain insight rather than a borrowing from other systems, arising within the early Jain philosophical and spiritual milieu. Within this tradition, it is closely associated with the teachings attributed to Mahavira, the twenty‑fourth Tirthankara, whose era is generally placed in the centuries before the common era. The conceptual foundations are understood to extend back through the lineage of earlier Tirthankaras, forming part of a continuous contemplative inheritance within Jain thought.

From a doctrinal standpoint, Anekantavada emerges out of a distinctly Jain vision of reality as complex, many‑sided, and not exhaustively graspable from a single human standpoint. This insight was preserved and articulated in the Jain Agamas and subsequent philosophical works, where it is intimately linked with Syadvada, the theory of conditional predication, and Nayavada, the doctrine of standpoints. Over time, Jain acharyas such as Haribhadra and Akalanka elaborated its logical and philosophical contours, clarifying how multiple, seemingly divergent perspectives can each express a partial truth about the same reality. In this way, the doctrine became a central pillar of Jain philosophy, standing alongside other foundational principles and shaping the Jain response to more rigid and dogmatic claims in the wider landscape of Indian thought.

Seen in a broader spiritual light, the origin of Anekantavada reflects a deep sensitivity to the limits of human perception and language. Rather than treating these limits as a defect, the Jain tradition transforms them into a path of humility and intellectual non‑violence, encouraging the seeker to recognize that every assertion is conditioned by a particular standpoint. The doctrine thus does not merely arise as an abstract theory but as a practical orientation for dialogue, self‑reflection, and ethical restraint in judgment. Its genesis in Jainism can be understood as the flowering of a long‑cultivated awareness that reality, like a many‑faceted jewel, reveals different aspects to different observers, none of which can claim absolute finality.