Lord Mahavira and His Times

SR No.: 011080
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Kailashchandra Jain
Publisher: Motilal Banarasidas
Publication Year: 1974
Total Pages: 427
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 20 MB

Page 385

Education, Literature and Sciences
367
solid bodies), Kalāsāvanna (fractions), jāvantāvam (as many as' meaning simple equations), vagga ("square" meaning quadratic equation). ghana ("cube" meaning cubic equation), vaggavagga (liquidratic equation) and vikappa (permutation and combination).1 · The Suriyapannatti and the Chandapannatti, the fifth and the seventh Upangas of the Jaina canon respectively deal with Astronomy. The Suriyapannatti deals with various astronomical views of the Jainas such as the orbits which the Sun circumscribes during the year, the rising and the setting of the Sun, the speed of the course of the Sun through each of its 184 cubits, the light of the Sun and moon, the measure of the shadow at various seasons of the year, the connection of the moon with lunar mansions (nakshatra), the waning and the crescent of the moon, the velocity of the five kinds of heavenly bodies (the Sun, the Moon, planets, nakshatras and tārās), the qualities of the moon-light, the number of Suns in Jambūdvipa, etc.?
The Jonipähuda; and the Chūdāmaņi“ deal with astrology. Vivāhapadala was another work of astrology. The knowledge of astrology was considered necessary for fixing the time of religious ceremonies.
It seems that the eight Mahānimittas, the early scriptures of the Ājivikas contained considerable sections on the subject of Astrology because the Ājivika mendicant often acted as an astrologer or reader of omens. The Jaina saint Kālaya or Kālaka is said to have learnt the Mahānimittas from the Ājivikas. That the Jainas, despite the veto of the Uttaradhyajana, also employed the cightfold Mahānimitta is shown by Kälaka's knowledge of it, and by an inscription at Sravana Belgolā, which states that the pontiff Bhadrabahu knowing the cightfold Mahānimitta, seeing past, present and future, foretold in Ujjayini a calamity of twelve years' duration: 1. Thā, 10.747. 2. M. WINTERVITZ: History of Indian Literature, Vol. II, p. 457, JASB,
Vol. 49, Pt. I, 1880. 3. Brih. Bhå, I. 1303. 4. Ibid. 1. 1313. 5. Jā 1, p. 257. Nakthalia Jataka. 6. Panchakalpa chirri. 7. Epi. Carn, II, No 1.