Jain Journal 2004 01

Author(s): Jain Bhawan Publication
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication

Page 22

R. BHATTACHARYA: JAIN SOURCES
147
existence. They do not admit that (the soul) is different from, not identical with (the elements).
In his interpretation of the term, anaạno (Skt. ananya, identical), Šīlānka again refers to the ātma-șasthavādin-s, Sāmkhyas as well as the Cārvākas, who consider the soul to be a product of the elements.
The problem is that the elementatists mentioned in SKS 1.1.7 and 1.1.16 cannot be equated with the Cārvākas/Lokāyatikas. The reason is quite simple : the Cārvākas accept only four elements, namely, earth, air, fire and water, but not the fifth, ether or space (ākāśa). An oft-quoted Cārvāka aphorism states: "Earth, water, fire and air the (only) principles," prthivyāpastejovāyur iti tattvāni. This is why the Cārvākas are ofter referred to as bhūtacatuștaya-vādins. SKS 1.1.18 mentions them to be so :
pudhavā āu teu ya, tahā vāu ya egao/ cattāri dhāuṇo rūvam evamāhaṁsu āvarell (for āvare some MSS have jāņagā or jāņayā) The Jāņayas say that there are four elements : earth, water, fire and air which combined form the body (or soul?).
Are the SKS and SKSVr all wrong then ? Not quite. Here is the first hint of a materialist theory which admitted four elements, rather than five, as the basis of its system. We hear more of them in SKS 2.1.15-17. It is necessary to quote the whole passage:
Upwards from the soles of the feet, downwards from the tips of the hair on the head, within the skin's surface is (what is called) soul, or what is the same, the Atman. The whole soul lives; when this (body) is dead, it does not live. It lasts as long as the body lasts, it does not outlast the destruction ( of the body). With it (viz. the body) ends life. Other men carry it (viz. the corpse) away to burn it. When it has been consumed by fire, only dove-coloured bones remain, and the four bearers return with the hearse to their village. Therefore there is and exists no (soul different from the body). Those who believe that there is and exists no (such soul), speak the truth.
This murderer says : 'Kill, dig, slay, burn, cook, cut or break to pieces, destroy: Life ends here; there is no world beyond.'
These (Nāstikas) cannot inform you on the following points: whether an action is good or bad, meritorious or not, well done or not