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Notes Bk. I
233
34. If names be any guide, they may be identified as follows : Asurakumāras
non-Aryans Nāgakumāras
snakes Suvarņakumāras
minerals Bidyutkumāras
electricity Agnikumāras
fire Dvipakumāras
isles Udadhikumāras
seas Dikkumāras
directions Vāyukumāras
air (winds) Stanitakumāras
ether
It should appear that the Jainas made a personification of the forces of nature in above manner. They are called 'kumāra' as they remain young till they exhaust their life-span.
35. Variations within this range are, for different layers of the earth, as follows : pleasant (snigdha)
1,000 years pure (suddha)
12,000 sandy (vāluka)
14,000 hard (manah-sila) sweet (šarkara)
18,000 alkaline (khara)
22,000
16,000
»
36. The Pannavaņā Sūtra notes in details the speciality of earth-bodies both in matters of intake and respiration. The word vemāyāe in connection with their respiration means that these have no determinate standard for it.
37. The life-span of one-organ beings may be stated as follows, the minima in all cases being an antar-muhurta, i.e., less than 48 minutes.
maximum 22,000 years
7.000 »
earth-bodies water-bodies fire-bodies air-bodies flora-bodies
3 day-night
3,000 3,000
