________________
Chapter - 9
CONCEPT OF ŚŪNYA (ZERO) IN JAINA CANONS*
The Jainas belong to one of the oldest but minor religious systems of India. The have their canonical literature extending roughly from 500 B. C. to 500 CE. They have not only contributed to the spiritual upliftment through their three guiding principles of non-violence, nonattachment and non-absolutism but also in the fields of physical and abstract sciences involving astronomy, astrology, cosmology, philosophy, logic and mathematics etc. This and later literature contains the term "Śünya” (Zero) from the beginning in their first book "Ācārārga" (450 BC)' and other primary and secondary texts like Uttarādhyayana (400 BC), Bhagavati (300-150 BC), Samavão (150-100 BC), Anuttaradaśā and Antakştdaśā (100 BC-150 CE), Anuyogadvāra-sūtra (100 BC) and Kalpasūtra etc. A good amount of worldly and super worldly mathematics is also found there. The term "Śünya" has been used as a noun and adjective as well. These texts show the varied meanings of the term in different contexts. The meanings given in Apte's Dictionary ? and Hindi Viśvakośa' are too scanty in this respect. The canonical meanings of this term could be classified with reference to (a) Physical sciences (b) Abstract sciences involving mathematical sciences and (c) Humanities covering ten branches of current learnings leading to elaboration of many Jaina concepts also in many cases. The scholars like Needham, Mukherjee, Kak, Datta, Rajgopal, Bag and Satyaprakasha and others have described various meanings of this term, which could be included under these major categories. This paper summarises these canonical meanings with reference to "Sünya".
Paper read at IV ISHME, Maebashi, Japan, 1999.
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
