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Notes Bk. V
337
4. Further division of time upward is as follows :
3 seasons make one ayana, 2 ayanas make one year, 5 years make a yuga, 20 yugas make a śataka (century), and so on till a 100 śatakas (1,00,000 years) make a millenium, 84,00,000 years make one purvānga, 84,00,000 X 84,00,000 years make one pūrva, 1 pūrva x 84,00.000 years make one tru titânga. 1 trutitārga x 84,00,000 years make one trutita
And so on (see the Sūtra for further divisions up). The highest figure given in the Jaina texts expressible in terms of arithmetical digits is sirşaprahelikå with 194 digits ; it is reproduced below :
7582, 6325, 3073, 0102, 4115, 7973, 5699, 7569, 6406, 2189, 6684, 8080, 1832, 96, followed by 140 zeroes, makig 194 digits in all. Here ends the countable number. When the number is beyond this figure, it is expressed with the help of comparisons like palyopama and sägaropama.
5. Avasarpiņi is the down or declining phase of the timecycle. In the down phase, physical dimensions and life-span of living beings go down and so also their capacity for endeavour, activity, strength, energy and self-exertion. The colour, smell, taste, substance and touch of matter gradually wane. The length of this phase of the time-cycle is stated to be 10 kodakodi sägaropamas. The entire period of decline has six subdivisions, each being called an ára on the analogy of spokes in the wheel.
Utsarpiņi is the up-phase of the time-cycle when the aforesaid attributes in living beings as well as matter are gradually enhanced. It has a similar length and similar sub-divisions as avasarpiņi.
When there is no down-phase or up. phase of the timecycle, it is fixed time.
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