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TRANSLATOR'S FOREWORD
The second volume of the Bhagavati Sūtra comprising of Satakas three to six of the original Prakrit is going out to the readers just after a year of the publication of its first volume this very day. This volume, like the earlier one, has enough food for thought for the inquisitive as well as the pious minds.
Satakas three and four have a lot of myth contained therein. There is an exhaustive account of the diverse Indras, their vimanas, diverse categories of gods under them including the Sāmānikas who are almost their equals, their principal consorts and assemblies. There are, again, similar details about the Lokapālas who are the gods of the diverse directions, their progeny-like gods, gods who take orders from them, etc. With such a large galaxy of gods recognised, we cannot say that there are no gods in Jainism ; but surely there is no Creator God. The interesting point here is that the Jainas have identified the celestial beings as a distinct category of existence with its hierarchy, mode of behaviour, etc., which has not been done by anyone else.
To a scientific mind, there is contained, in the same account, a complete phenomenology as observed to the south of Mount Meru, Jambūdvipa in particular, some items of which may not be difficult to detect, but not so all. Some of these phenomena are man-made but most oihers are made by the agency of nature, and hence are beyond human control. In this account, anyone interested in phenomena will easily reap a rich harvest of technical terms which can enrich our own vocabulary.
In S.3.0.2., there is an interesting account of an event in Mahāvīra's own life, recorded in his own words, which happened when he was a monk. It was the final year of his monkhood when he was åt a place named Sumsumarapura, At that time, Camara, the Indra of the Asurakumătas, prayed for Mahāvira's support in his effort to dislodge
