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Jaina Conception of Matter
29 can be studied in the light of many unique notions of matter as explained in the physical sciences.
Etymology of 'puggala’ or poggala,1 Skt. pudgala, has been dealt with by the Jainācāryas2, Bauddhācārya, 3 different foreign and Indian scholars including Sri S. M. Shah5 of Poona University in their respective manners of scholarly approach to the problem. According to the concensus of opinions of all scholars, the basic etymological meaning of the word 'puggala' is that the substance which undergoes transformation or modification by the process of integration and disintegration is called puggala or poggala, Skt. pudgala, although it still remains as a problem to be solved, as it has been used in the sense of both Matter and Soul or empirical being in the Jaina tradition? and Soul or personality in the 1. TS., V.1. 2. Pūraņādgalanācca pudgalaḥ etc.. Tattvārthādhigamasūtra,
Țikā by Siddhasena Ganin on V. 7, p. 316. Pūranagalanānvarthasaṁjñātvāt pudgalaḥ, etc.. — Tattvārtha Rājavārtika, V. 19, Țikā ;Pumgilādvā...athavā. pumāṁso jīva te śarfrāhāravişayakaraņo pakaraņādibhāvena gilanta iti pudgalāḥ-- Ibid.; Poggale iti pūraņādgalanācca śarīrādināṁ pudgalaḥ- Bhagavati Vyākuyāprajñapti Vịtti, Vol. III, pp. 776 ff.; Pūraṁti galamti jado pūraņagalanehi poggalā tena paramān acciya jādā iya ditthaṁ ditthi kāyaṁhi –
Tiloyapannatti, pt. I, ch. I, V. 99. 3. Visuddhimagga, 310. 4. Prof. P. Desco, Sanskrit “pudgala’, body, soul, - Journal.
of American Oriental Society, Vol. 67, pp. 172-77; Prof. Franklin Edgerton, Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Grammar and Dictionary, Vol. II, Delhi, 1970, p. 347; Pāli-English Dictionary. Dravidian Etymological Dictionary, Oxford,
1961, Word No. 3494, p. 283. 5. Sri S. M. Shah, On the Etymology of Pudgala or Poggala,
Sambodhi, Vol. 4, Nos. 3-4, 6. Tattvārthādhigamasūtra, Umāsvāti, p. 316 7. Bhs. 20. 2. 664.
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