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not mentioned their names. Even, if the names were decided, we find no description as to their exact nature and function. Further, the meaning that we understand of the Pañcāstikāya today is gradually ascribed to them in due course of time. We find at least two references in the Bhagavatisūtra which clarify that the Dharmastikāya and the Adharmāstikāya at that time did not mean media of motion and rest, respectively. In the 20th Sataka of Bhagavati-sūtra , it is mentioned that abstinence from the eighteen places of sin and observance of the five vigilances (Samitis) along with three controls (Guptis) is Dharmāstikāya, while indulging in the eighteen places of sin and not following the five vigilances (Samitis) and the three controls (Guptis) is called Adharmāstikāya.
In the 16th Sataka of Bhagavatisūtra, the question is raised whether a deity (Deva) standing at the end of the universe (unoccupied space) can move his hands outside the universe (Aloka)? The answer given to this question is not only negative but is also explanatory. It says that as the movement of Jiva and Ajiva is possible only through matter (Pudgala) and as there is complete absence of Jivas and the Pudgalas in the Aloka, the movement of the hands of the deity is impossible there. If Dharma dravya was considered as a medium of motion, at that time the answer would have been in different way, i.e., due to the absence of Dharma Dravya he cannot move his hands.
Thus, the concept of Dharma and Adharma as the respective medium of motion and rest seems to be a later concept. This idea has arrived by the time of the composition of Tattvārtha Sūtra (i.e. in the second half of the c. 3rd or first half of the c. fourth). The allusions made in Bhagavati and other scriptures clearly show that the meanings of Dharmastikāya and
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Jainism and its History
