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22 First Steps to Jainism
b
(iv) ardha-naraca-samhanana-naam-karma gives a joining which is on one
side like the preceding one, whilst on the other the bones are simply
pressed together and nailed. (iv) kilika samhanana-naam-karma gives a weak joining by which the
bones are merely pressed together and nailed. (v) sevarta (or chedaprstha) samhanana-naam-karma gives quite a weak
joining, by which the ends of the bones only touch one another.
The samhananas play a great role in Jain dogmatics. Only the first four make meditation possible (Tattva. IX, 27), and only the best i.e. the first joining of the joints, permits the highest kind of concentration which precedes salvation.
(h) Figures - SixThe Samsthana-naam-karma determine the statures of a being, that is to
say:
(i) samacaturasra-samsthana-naam-karma causes the entire body to be
symmetrically built. (ii) nyagrodhaparimandala-samsthana-naam-karma causes the upper
part of the body to be symmetrical, not the lower. (iii) saddi-samsthana-naam-karma makes the body below the naval
symmetrical and above it unsymmetrical. (iv) kubja samsthana-naam-karma makes the body hunchbacked i.e.
hands, feet, head and neck symmetrical but breast and belly unsymmetrical. vamana-samsthana-naam-karma makes the body dwarf i.e. breast
and belly symmetrical, hands, feet etc. unsymmetrical. (vi) hunda-samsthana-naam-karma makes the entire body
unsymmetrical.
(V)
The conception of symmetry is explained in the following way. Imagine a man sitting in the paryanka posture i.e. crossing the legs and placing the hands over the navel. If the two knees are joined by a line and from the right shoulder to the left knee, and from the left shoulder to the right knee, and from the forehead to the hands, straight lines are drawn, one gets four lines. If these are equal to one another, symmetry is apparent, if they are not so, one of the other four samsthanas results.
Gods have only the first, infernal beings and jivas who have been produced through coagulation only the 6th figure and in the
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