Disclaimer: This translation does not guarantee complete accuracy, please confirm with the original page text.
## 38. Apkay (Water)
Many philosophers have acknowledged the existence of living beings in water, but Mahavira, making a new proposition, stated that water itself is a living being. The solid, dense, foundational earth of hell (ghanodadhi) and the circular, water-filled ghanavalaya surrounding the hellish earth, the oceans containing hail, salt, etc., and the water in the middle of the Padmadrah, etc., are definitely sentient (saccitt). The water in wells, tanks, and ponds, etc., is sentient according to practical usage (vyavaharanaya). Sometimes, the entire water of a pond may be non-sentient (acitt), but in the absence of omniscience (sarvjna), it is practically impossible to know whether it is sentient or non-sentient. Therefore, while traveling from Rajagriha to Vitabhaya Nagar in the Sindhusauvira country to ordain King Udayan, even though the pond was considered non-sentient, Lord Mahavira did not allow him to drink its water. Pure water (antarakshajal), dew, haratanuk (water droplets that emerge from the earth), mahika (mist), and snow are all sentient apkay.
Water does not become non-sentient simply by being heated; therefore, the term "tattafasuy" is used in the Dashavaikalik Sutra. Otherwise, the term "tatt" alone would have sufficed. It is not necessary for it to be "prasauk" (suitable for drinking) even when heated. Water placed on fire remains mixed (misra) until it boils three times. In the first boil, it becomes non-sentient to a small extent. In the second boil, it becomes non-sentient to a greater extent, and in the third boil, it becomes completely non-sentient. Rainwater, if it falls in a place where humans and animals move, remains mixed for some time. If rainwater falls outside villages and towns, it remains mixed until it becomes non-sentient due to contact with the earth (prithvikaay). If there is heavy rainfall, the water that falls first becomes mixed due to contact with the earth, but the water that falls later remains sentient.
The author mentions three beliefs regarding rice water. The water that drips from the vessel used to wash rice into other vessels remains mixed until it is destroyed. Another belief is that the rice water is considered mixed until the bubbles that form on the surface of the water when it is poured from the washing vessel into another vessel subside. The third belief is that the rice water remains mixed until the rice is cooked.
1. Pinni 16.
2. Bribha 999, T. p. 315.
3. In the commentary on Mulachar, the water that originates in a large lake or ocean is called haratanu (Mulaati p. 176).
4. Utt 36/85, Mula 210.
5. (a) Pinni 17.
Pindaniryukti
(b) Dasajichu p. 114; Ahva tattamvi jahe tinni varani na uvvattam bhavai, tahe tam anivvudam, sacitt tivrtt bhavai.
6. Mavr. p. 10.
7. Pinni 17/1, Dasajichu p. 185.