________________
तदभावदर्शनात् । आधुनिका अपि मन्यन्ते - “प्रामवायु मगृहीत्वा नाग्नेरुद्दीपनं Great" | હિન્દી અનુવાદઃ વૃત્તિમાં પણ કહેવાયું છે કે અગ્નિ સચેતન છે, કારણ કે ઉચિત આહાર-ઇંધણથી વૃદ્ધિ અને ઇંધણના અભાવમાં હાનિ દેખાય છે. આધુનિક વૈજ્ઞાનિકો પણ માને છે કે “પ્રાણવાયુ વગર અગ્નિ
પ્રજ્જવલિત ના થાય. 84. A.K. Shaha, Combustion Engineering and Fuel Technology, pp. 67,
68– "Here it will not be out of place to glance at different successive beliefs and theories put forth to explain the wonderful phenomenon of 'fire'. The existence of fire was known to people from the very primitive age. The ancient Greeks in their legends indicated that Prometheus, the mythological creator of human beings, brought fire to the people from heaven, stealing it from the altar of the Father--God Jupiter. From this myth, however, some hints led to a more authentic historical accounts, according to which the existence of fire came to the knowledge of the primitive man during thunderstorm. Fire descended from the black clouds, the primitive man saw a tree set ablaze by the lightning; with curiosity he ran to the tree, stretched his hand to the beautiful bright tongues of the flame, but in that moment felt an unbearable pain. The flying sparks burnt the front of the skin, wraped around his waist; with surprise of a beast man fell down to the feet of the burning tree, worshipping it as God. Then he brought the burning wood to his cottage, kept it with care as the gift of God and tried to get benefit out of it. Some time later primitive people learnt how to create fire themselves with the help of flints. Fire brought to the man the rudiments of culture. Fire heated the primitive dwelling during the cold season, lighted it in the dark evenings, whereas food taken from the fire was hot and tasteful to eat. For all this primitive man, naive and helpless in his ignorance, considered fire as God and offered sacrifices to it. The cult of God of Fire passed through the entire ancient world of Heathendome; Egypt, India, Persia, Greece, Syria, Rome. It survived even when people rose to the higher level of cultural development. In the old Russia, or as it was then called Skythia, there existed also the cult of Perun, the God of Fire and Thunder. Even to-day FireWorshippers are dwelling at some places of Afghanistan and India. Such were the great bounties that Fire brought to Humanity. And with
126
Jain Educationa International
For Personal and Private Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org