________________
236
'While the Vedic saints thus conferred, a follower of Jainism, Madduka, passed that way to visit Gunashilaka chaitya A Vedic saint proposed, 'We know that shramana Mahavira propounds five astıkayas Better to consult Madduka about it They all decided to go and consult Madduka Said they to him
'Madduka your preceptor Mahavira propounds five categories, ontological Four of these are inanimate and one animate The first four are formless and the last one with a form When the astıkayas are not perceptible, how shall we accept these ?'
SHRAMAN MAHAVIR
Madduka said to the Vedic saints, 'We perceive or infer that which performs some function While that which does not perform anything remains imperceptible and uninferred' The Vedic saints spoke out simultaneously, 'What a follower of Jainism you are that you cannot see or infer
astıkayas?'
'May you live long! The wind is blowing Don't you agree to it?'
'We do'
'Do you see the wind?'
'No, we can't see it'
'Deos not the odorific matter enter the nostrils
1
•
'It does
'Do you see this odorific matter entering the nostrils?"
'No We don't'
'Does fire inhere in the aranı?'1
'Yes It does '
'Can you perceive the hidden fire?'
'No we can't'
'Do you see the yonder shore of sea?'
'No'
'Don't the divine planes exist?'
'Yes
A kind of fuel
1
