Jaina Philosophy Historical Outline

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

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140 Jain Philosophy in Historical Outline
nor destroyed. But the compounds made of them are non-eternal. The differences between the Jain and the Nyāya-Veiśeșika viewpoints regarding atomism may be summarised as follows: According to the Jains, the atoms are all of the same kind while the Nyāya-Vaišeşikas hold that they are different in kind. The Atomic theory of the NyāyaVaišeşikas seeks to explain that part of the world which is supposed to be non-eternal. The five substances of ether, time, space, mind and soul do not come within the purview of their atomic theory, but the Jain scheme is more comprehensive which includes many other categories. The Jains also differ from the Nyāya-Vaišeșikas on the point that all composite objects of the world, formed by the combination of atoms, must have an intelligent maker.
Jain Cosmography
Cosmography as a general plan of the cosmos also comes within the purview of philosophy for very practical reasons. The basis of Jain cosmographical speculations was not a generally adopted theory. Widely different ideas about this problem seem to have been current. There are reasons to believe that in this field of study, the Jain ideas were greatly influenced by the contemporary Brahmanical and Buddhist ideas. It should also be pointed out that, apart from what was known about the visible world, the detaild knowledge of the structure of the universe, was generally believed by the Jains to have been reached by contemplation. The main sources of our information on this subject are the cosmographic sections of the Țhāna and Samavāya, the first and second payas of the Pannavanā, the third section of the Jivabhigama with the supposed interpolated text Divasāgarapannatti which opens with a description of the Jambudvípa and deals in particular with the ring continent and oceans, and the Jambuddivapannatti which deals with Jambuddīva in general, its enclosure with the gates therein, the continent of Bharaha and the remaining continents of Jambuddiva and the benches separating them, statistical survey of the geographical detailes of Jambuddīva, visibility, presence and temperature of the suns, circles of the stars, and so on.
As we have seen above, according to Jain conception the universe is situated in the space which is divided into two parts--Lokākāśa and Alokākāśa. The latter is not properly defined in the Jain texts but is described as an absolute void impenetrable to anything, mate
Kirfel, K1, pp. 208-339; Schübring, DJ, pp. 204-46.