________________
(viii 1
Sakra, the Indra of the Devas. In this encounter, Camara, who had an inferior status and power, was routed by Sakra who hurled his 'thunderbolt at him. As Camara slipped down from heaven, he took shelter between the two legs of Mahāvira as he stood under a tree in deep meditation. This was a very secure shelter which saved Camarendra's life. The account is interesting in this that even gods in all mythology, Jaina or non-Jaina, Oriental or Occidental, are subject to similar passions like anger, hatred, jealousy, etc., as are human beings, and like the latter, they, too, do not hesitate to take up arms for an open trial of strength.
In $.3.U.4-6., as elsewhere in this volume, there is a considerable discussion on supernatural powers, vikurvaņā or power to transform, and samudghāta or power to quick transformation, of various agencies, sub-human, human and celestial. The elaborate discussion would give the impression that these powers were actually in possession of these agencies, though they were rarely used. How a modern mind will take this account is anybody's guess.
rovides a useful relief from mythology when discussion starts on sun-rise and sun-set. It is an interesting Jaina view that Jambūdvipa is served by two suns. This, however, is not corroborated by modern science. Then follows a discussion on the measures of day and night whose total length together on any one day is fixed, but the respective lengths of the two vary. This is our own experience that days in summer are longer than nights, as nights in winter are longer than days. For this purpose, the standard measure used by the Jainas is a muhurta, which is equivalent of 48 minutes. Further, there are discussions on rains, winter, winds, sprouting capacity of the grains, loss of this capacity, and so on, and some of these are elaborated further in the Satakas following.
5.5.U.3. has an illuminating discussion on life-span which is the outcome of a karma giving it. Life-span is itself a bondage, and there is movement with life-span. U. 3. has a discussion on sound. There is also an interpolation here on embryology, obviously referring back to the transfer of Mahāvira's embryo from the womb of a Brāhmaṇa woman
