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As aforenoted, the Jaina cosmographers in the canonical age were accustomed to measuring the dimensions of cosmographic regions by the unit of yojana. The theory of prade'sas evolved in the field of ontology in the meanwhile, and the Jaina ontologists started to express the dimensions of ontological entities by the unit of prade'sa. The Jaina ontologists, who were already accustomed to a rational way of thinking, took a radical measure in expressing the dimensions of these ontological entities. Thus they assigned ananta prade'sas to the dimension of aka's a, which equals to the extension of loka-aloka. Loka can only be of a definite extension, to which they allotted asarikhyata prade's as. The unit of asankhyata or asankhyeya was thus conceived in the sense of a definite number from the beginning. The dimensions of the rest of the ontological entities can then be easily determined by the size of loka which is their locus. Thus dharma and adharma are of the extension of asankhya ta prade'sas. The minimum size of pudgala is that of an atom or one prade's a, and its maximum size is that of loka or asankhyata prade's as. The relative sizes of individual jivas depend upon the sizes of their bodies in embodiment; and their absolute size is that of loka, for all the jivas are potentially able to perform kevali samudghāta at some time. Among these pancastikayas, the extension of akasa and pudgala must have been determined early, possibly by or in the fourth canonical stage; while the absolute size of jivastikaya must have been fixed when the concept of kevali-samudghata was formulated in the fourth-fifth canonical stages, and the extension of dharma-adharma in the final canonical stage.
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The ontological unit of measurement by prade'sa and the cosmographical unit of measurement by yojana thus existed side by side in the canonical period. The cosmographers estimate that the size of loka is asankhyata kotikoti yojanas, which is asankhyata pradesas according to the ontologists. This gap had to be adjusted. Here the Jaina ontologists invented the idea that the quantity of asankhyata equals to the quantity of asankhyata x asankhyata (actually, 1/asankhyata x asankhyata x asankhyata), which is already known to the Prajnapanā. Likewise, the Jaina ontologists made a rule that ananta prade'sis can be accommodated in one prade'sa up to asarikhyata prade'sas in loka.
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How the doctrine of pancastikayas came to be formulated is shrouded in mist. XX.2.663 offers the synonyms of pancastikayas as follows: (1) Dharmastikayadharma, dharmastikaya, abstinence from 18 kriyas, 5 samitis and 3 guptis; (2) Adharmastikaya- reverse of dharmastikaya; (3) Akasastikaya- ākasa, akaśāstikaya, gagana, nabhas, sama, vişama, khaha, viha yas, vici, vivara, ambara, ambarasa, chidra, 'sușira, marga, vimukha, urdana, vyardana, adhara, vyoma, bhājana, antariksa, 'syama, avaka'santara, agama, sphatika, ananta; (4) Jivastikaya- jiva, jivastikaya, prana, bhuta, sattva, vijna, cetā, jetä, ätma, rangana, hinduka, pudgala, manava, karta, vikarta, jagat, jantu, yoni; svayam bhuti, 'sarira, nayaka, antaratma; (5) Pudgalastikaya- pudgala, pudgalastikaya,
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