Amrita Collected Papers by A M Ghatage

SR No.: 006968
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Jitendra B Shah
Publisher: Kasturbhai Lalbhai Smarak Nidhi Ahmedabad
Total Pages: 530
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 10 MB

Page 470

The Five Mahābhūtas
461
āyachaddā
pañca mahabhūyā - ihamegesimāhiyā ete pañca mahabhūyā pujegātu / all of which refer to the Cārvāka system and again at 2. 1. 654: iha khalu pañca mahabbhūyā jehim no kijjai kiriyā / It also uses the word pañchamahabbuiye to refer to an adherent of this system. In all other cases the word bhuya or bhūyaim is used to refer to all kinds of living beings, mettim bhūeśu kappae bhūehim na virujjhejjhā and to groups of various grades of living beings Thanamga 3. 3 59: devāṇāgā jakkhā bhūyā and the word bhūyagāma is used as a collective term. In fact, the phrase sabbe pāņā, sabbe bhūyā sabbe jīvā sabbē sattā occurs hundreds of times in the Ardhamāgadhi canon. In the later philosophical writings exemplified by the Gaṇadharavāda of the Viseṣāvasyakabhāṣya of Jinabhadra the words pañcabhūya or bhūya are used to remove the doubts of the fourth, Gaṇadharam Viyatta kim manne pañcabhūya atthi va nathitti sansao tujjha (1649); pañcakkhesu na jutte tuha bhūmijalāṇalesu sandeho/ aṇilāgāsesu bhave so viņa kajjoņumāņão (1748). We may note in passing that Jinabhadra appears to believe that while the earth, water and fire are directly observable, wind and sky are only to be inferred being not perceptible. What he means can only be clarified in the context of the atomic theory of the Jain philosophers.
The usually accepted five material elements are rubricated in the classical philosophy of the Jains and are elaborated in the famous authoritative work, the Tattvärthasūtra of Umāsvāti in a peculiar way thus differing from all other philosophical systems. Four of them are included in the concept of pudgala which stands for matter in general and the last one called ākāśa gets its place along with two other elements called dharma and adharma as non-sentient entities and coupled with the sentient living beings, jīvas, they form the group of five astikāyas. This group is then opposed to kāla (time) which is regarded as an immaterial non-living thing. Altogether they make up the six dravyas and constitute the whole universe called loka tattvārtha, tatra lokaḥ kaḥ katividho vā kim samstho vā / atrocyate pañcāstikāyasamudayo lokaḥ (3-6). The space beyond the loka is called alokākāśa which is said to be completely void, which makes the place of ākāśa incompatible with the other four material elements. The latter forms a group by themselves to be contrasted with the living elements on the basis of their atomic structure. The current word used for them is astikāya 'having body'. Kundakunda, in his Pañcāstikāya points out that the aņu or paramāņu is the cause of the four dhātus (another term for the four material elements) and explains that they are constituted by the molecular units formed of the atoms. Each atom is supposed to possess one of the tastes tikta, kaṭuka, kaṣāya, āmla, and madhura, one of the five colours sveta, pīta, harita, aruna and kṛṣṇa, one of