Jainas in History of Indian Literature

Author(s): Jinvijay
Publisher: ZZZ Unknown

Page 48

JADRA WORKS ON OTHBR SCIENCES [33 That the Jainas showed such impartiality to other systems, makes their philosophical litera.. ture valuable to us. $ 10) The Jainas have treated all branches of science.
There is hardly any branch of science that has not been treated by Jainas. In the Nandi and the Aruogadāra we meet with a long list of what is called 'false tradition' (mithyāśrutam) or 'worldly' (laukika) sciences, including amongst others the Kauţilīya-Arthaśāstra, the Kāmasūtra, Ghotakamukha, Vaiseşika, Buddhaśāsana, Kāpila, Lokāyata, Mathematics. These late canonical books (the Nandi is ascribed to Devarddhi, the compiler of the canon in the 5th cent. A. D.) contain also entire sections dealing with such objects as Kāvyarasa, grammar, division of time, etc.
The Jainas have shown great interest in mathematics and composed many good works on this subject.
In medical science the Buddhists seem to have had greater interest than the Jainas. But the oldest dated work on mercurial treatment of diseases is a commentary composed in 1386 A.D. by the Jaina Merutunga on Kānkāyana's Rasādhyāya. Between 1535 and 1668 the Jaina Harsakirtisūri compiled a collection of prescriptions, the Yogacintā mani Vaidyakasārasangraha.'
See J. Jolly, Medicin, in Grundriss III, 10, 1901
p. 3.
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