Jain Journal 1987 07

SR No.: 520087
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Jain Bhawan Publication
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication
Publication Year: 1987
Total Pages: 88
Language: English
Classification: Magazine, India_Jain Journal, & India
File Size: 4 MB

Page 28

JULY, 1987
any mathematical implications thereof. It is the tender and delicate feelings of the holy devotees of Lord Mahavira who have preserved intact several scattered pieces of mathematical knowledge which still deserves a deep probe. Still we have to delve deep into the secrets of Jaina mathematical texts which sometimes appear to be the cultivation of imagination. For example, people have wondered about the detailed description of the dimensions of the Mount Meru, but Dr. S. S. Lishki has exposed in his work Jaina Astronomy that mathematical consistency of the dimensions of the Mount Meru gives a good criterion implying the action of obliquity of ecliptic in it. The actual observation and determination do fit the real geometry of the earth.
It is worthy to note that mathematics formed part and percel of the knowledge on the part of Jaina monks who influenced the social and religious modes of life. By measuring actual length and direction of shadow of gnomon, they determined length of the year and time of day in order to perform their religious rites at proper times. In Ceylon, each Buddhist monk is supposed to keep a calendar (lita) from which he learns the awach-hāwa (length of shadow) by which, according to rules laid down, varying with time of the year, hour of the day may be known, the age of the Moon, the years that have elapsed since the death of Buddha.? The data as extant in Sürya-prajñapti show that parts of the day elapsed have been measured in terms of shadow-lengths measured in units of puruşas (man-lengths).
The psycho-social development of Jaina philosophy is based on Jaina karma theory which can hardly be understood without the aid of mathematical background. The law of saptabhangi can be easily understood through the application of the law of permutation and combination.3 The knowledge of set theory, as L. C. Jain" has exposed, is quite indispensable for adequate grasping the Jaina karma theory.
It is worth noticing that Jaina mathematics and astronomy had not only regulated the Jaina mode of life but they influenced the social and religious life style of the Indian nation as a whole. For example, syzygies (amāvasyās and pūrnimās) and sankrāntis (solar ingresses) are termed as 15,30 or 45 muhurtas depending upon the naksatra(lunar asterism) current
1 Lishk, S. S., Jaina Astronomy, 1987, Sumati and Sons. Delhi. 2 See Encyclopaedia of Ethics and Religions, Vol. 3, p. 78 * Lishk, S. S., 'On Application of the Law of Combination in Early Jaina Philo
sophy', Jain Journal, Vol. 15, No. 2, pp. 71-73. * Jain, L. C., 'Divergent Sequences Locating Transfinite Sets', IJHS, Vol. 12, No. 1,
pp. 57-75.