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quarters to travel. To surmount this difficulty, the theory supposes two suns, Bhnrata and Airavata, separated from each other by half orbit, thal- describe the whole orbit.
The Chinese had also imagined from ancient times, the existence of a 'Counter Jupiter' which moved round diametrically opposite to the planet itself, Greeks had also a parallel to this in the strange Pythagorian theory of the 'Counter-Earth' apparently due to Philolaus of Tarentum (480–? B.C.) which was devised either to bring the number of planets upto a perfect number, 10. or to explain lunar eclipses.2 The mystery of the real and counter bodies, existent in the Jaina Prakrit texts, China and Greece has not yet been unearthed, although it has been a theory for certain calculations.3
Apparently these theories seem to be very miraculous. However we can appreciate the real sense implied there. 1. Ibid. 2. Needham, J. and Wang. L. Scie.
nce and Civilization In China' Vol 3. (1958) P. 228, Cambridge Uni
versity press, Cambridge. 3. Jain, L.C. Kinemetics of the sun
and the Moon in Tiloya pannatti Tulsi prajna, Vol. 1 No. 1 (1975) pp. 60-67, Jaina Vishwa Bharti, Ladnun.
in only if we stretch our intellectual level to that centurian frame work of mind. What seems to be most plausible to modern theorists like nuclear physicists today may turn to be most strange after a few centuries only. Besides, semantic changes also play a great role in arousing confusion. For example, Jaina's notion that the moon goes 80 Yojanas higher than the sun looks apparently very strange and scholars like Shankar Balkrishan Dixit tried to explain it to be the vertical height.In fact the word "height implied a notion of celestial latitude.2 Also the fact that man's place in Nature has always been relevant to religion,3 is an essential requisite for our proper understanding of the ancient miraculous no. tions. Much of the ancient knowledge
1. Dixit, S B. 'Bhartiya Jyotisa Sastra'
part I, Eng Tr. by R.V. Vaidya (1969), p.6, The manager of publications, Govt. of India Civil
Lines, Delhi—6. 2. Sharma, S.D. and Lishk, S.S. Lati
tude of the Moon as Determined in Jaina Astronomy' Sramana, Vo. 27 No. 2 (Dec. 1975) pp. 28-35.
PVRI, Varanasi. 3. Hocking, William Earnest, 'Scien
ce and the Idea of God' (1944) P. 85 The University of North California press, Corolina, U.S.A.
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