Scientific Contents in Prakrta Canons

SR No.: 001670
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: N L Jain
Publisher: Parshwanath Vidyapith
Publication Year: 1996
Total Pages: 608
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, Science, & Religion
File Size: 9 MB

Page 501

Zoological Contents in Prākrta Canons : 479
Prajñāpanā ( except Cāraṇa and Vidyādhara which form part of the movement in different space and non-space mediums),
(ii) The non-prodigied ones have also five classes in comparison to nine of Prajñāpanā.
(iii) The non-Aryan sub-classification has two varieties by Akalanka — inner islanders and action landers. Though there is no mention of number of inner islanders but the four repre-sentative names there suggest Prajñāpanā names. The chara-cteristics of inner islanders are also similar but there are only 21 there in place of 28. However, 24 inner islands have been pointed out and food, residence and age of theirs have been mentioned which is not found in Prajñāpanā etc.
(iv) The inner islanders are non-aryans as per Akalanka'?
(v) There is no mention of human beings in lands of non-action or enjoyment.
(vi) On the basis of human classes being taken with respect to their character of (i) completion and non-completion and (ii) mind or no mind, it can be calculated that the nonDigambara version has 854 varieties of human beings in comparison to 742 varieties of Digambaras assuming nonspecified varieties to be equal to non-Digambaras.
(vii) Kārtikeyānupreksā has mixed up the above and suggests four types of human beings - Aryans, non-Aryans, action landers and non-action landers. Thus, Digambara canons seem to have a somewhat ambiguous state of human classification4.
( viii ) Gommatasāra Jivakānda classifies humans in nine varieties with respect to their states of completions as below's:
(a) Completioned, structural and timal noncompletioned humans in Aryan lands
3 (b) Completioned and structural noncompletioned in non-Aryan, enjoyment and action lands
2x3 =