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34. THE LEŚYÁS This chapter deals with the six leśyās. These are external appearances cast upon the soul by the individual's Karma. The soul is, of course, not itself affected, but the leśyās are like a shadow or a reflection. They have names, colors, tastes, smells, touches, degrees, character, variety, duration, result, and life; but they are commonly distinguished by color, and are named black, blue, grey, red, yellow, and white. The first three of these are bad and the last three are good. The chapter characterizes the various qualities of the six leśyās, describes the men who possess the different kinds, and admonishes wise men to avoid the bad leśyās and cultivate the good.
The subject of the leśyās is common Jain iconography, and is generally represented by a rose-apple (jambu) tree, from which six men are trying to get the fruit. These men are often shown by the colors of their respective leśyās. The black has an axe and endeavors to cut the tree down at its base. The blue is cutting off the branches. The gray is cutting off only the twigs with the fruit, or the bunches. The red climbs the tree to pluck the fruit. The yellow pulls off what he can reach as he walks around. The white collects only what has fallen to the ground.
The traditional type of illustration appears in JM (fig. 139 wrongly put in the manuscript at the beginning of Chapter 36): the black is at the bottom left; the blue at the right top; the gray at the left top, but without an axe; the red is climbing the tree; the yellow is at the right middle; and the white is at the bottom right. JP's illustration (fig. 140) is quite unconventional: no one holds an axe, and the men are all at the right of the tree; their colors are indicated. DV (fig. 138) gives almost no prominence to the tree, which is obscurely placed at the right hand side of the upper panel. The six men are arranged in two registers, but not clearly differentiated.
