Jaina Philosophy Historical Outline

Author(s): Narendra Nath Bhattacharya
Publisher: Munshiram Manoharlal Publisher's Pvt Ltd New Delhi

Page 159

138 Jain Philosophy in Historical Outline
astronomical studies of the Jains included numerous subjects and categories, owing to the material difficulties and lack of technological development, the fantastic growth of the speculative and imaginative aspects could not be checked. As had happened in the case of other sciences, here too the a priori doctrinal principles obscured the limited scope of scientific postulations, as a result of which the suns moons, the stars and planets, become ultimately powerful deities for serving religious purposes. But, in spite of such shortcomings and inadequacies, it can safely be asserted that the Jain thinkers at least tried to explain in their own way the facts relating to the waxing and waning of the moon, the eqninoxes, the relative existence of the suns, moons and the known stars, the points of zodiac and other kindred subjects. They came to the conclusions that the astronomical events take place at fixed and regular intervals of time, that in the beginning of the ages the planets remain in the same line, that the stars and planets have a uniform linear motion but the uneven distances are responsible for the varying rates of their angular motion and that there are more than one sun or moon. It is known to all students of Indian history that as a science astronomy had a specialised growth in India which took into account even the Greek methods of calculation. Although its scope was limited owing to the technological inadequacies of the ancient and medieval period, its role was glorious. Needless to say that the Jain contribution to this branch of knowledge was by no means insignificant.
Scientific Enquiries: Atomism
We have already the occasion to refer to some aspects of the Indian conception of atomism which was enriched mainly by the NyāyaVajśesikas and the Jains. The Jains were probably the earliest thinkers in India to formulate the atomic theory. This theory was formulated in ancient Greece by Demokritos, Empedokles and others. The Sanskrit equivalent of the term atom in aņu. The word is found in the Upanişads without any scientific significance, however. The Jain doctrine of atomism may be summarised as follows: The matter or Pudgala has certain inalienable features, but in spite of this, the transmutation of the elements like earth, water, fire and air is quite possible. Each of these elements has a structure, and they are divisible into atoms. The atoms are all of the same kind, but they can give rise to the infinite variety of things. Matter produced by the combination or compound of the atoms are called skandha to which cate