Book Title: Nandanvana
Author(s): N L Jain
Publisher: Parshwanath Vidyapith

Previous | Next

Page 240
________________ (220) : Nandanavana demonology and toxicology numbering forty-five, representing the acuteness of the diseases. Religiously, he also points out that the primary cause of disease is former karmic accumulation. Others have pointed out the possession by demons in addition. The current allopathic system does not classify diseases on this basis. It is based on various systems working in the body like nervous, bone and joints, endocrine, excretory, digestive, respiratory, cardiovascular system and genetic, infectious and psychological disorders 20. This suggests that the current medical practice has gone on specificity rather than Ayurvedic generalism. Diseases Taught The canons mention large number of diseases as observed during those days and for which treatment was done. With the exception of Rayaņasāra (10 diseases) and Bhagavati (12 diseases), most other canons have 16 or more diseases. Some later texts have constancy in number with many names differing. Jīvājīvābhigama goes for 36 diseases. B.A. has an alarming number of 5,68,99,584 for disease mentioning that there are 96 diseases in the eyes alone. Moreover, Kundakunda has to say a little differently that 1.65cm. (1 Argula) of body may have 96 diseases 30. This gives, on calculation, the total internal and external length of the body as 9.78 kms and total volume of body as approximately one cubic meter if the body density is taken roughly to be one. This, if corrected for the size of the eye as 4.5 cms., still seems to be 3.62 km. equivalent - still an imaginary quantity, However, if we overlook this calculation of B.A., we find that the total number of diseases goes up to more than five-dozen as shown in Table 1. This suggests that the number of diseases have been gradually increasing in different canonical periods leading to the guess of their later and later compositions. The sub-classification of fever, different types of community diseases, inclusion of infections, measles, ringworm, heart pain and psychological diseases in 'later texts also suggest a gradual development towards finer approach in medical learning. This list also points out that nearly all types of general diseases were existing in canonical days as are existing today with the exception of assumed demonal diseases which seem to be Jain Education International For Private & Personal Use Only www.jainelibrary.org

Loading...

Page Navigation
1 ... 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361 362 363 364 365 366 367 368 369 370 371 372 373 374 375 376 377 378 379 380 381 382 383 384 385 386 387 388 389 390 391 392 393 394 395 396 397 398 399 400 401 402 403 404 405 406 407 408 409 410 411 412 413 414 415 416 417 418 419 420 421 422 423 424 425 426 427 428 429 430 431 432 433 434 435 436 437 438 439 440 441 442 443 444 445 446 447 448 449 450 451 452 453 454 455 456 457 458 459 460 461 462 463 464 465 466 467 468 469 470 471 472 473 474 475 476 477 478 479 480 481 482 483 484 485 486 487 488 489 490 491 492 493 494 495 496 497 498 499 500 501 502 503 504 505 506 507 508 509 510 511 512 513 514 515 516 517 518 519 520 521 522 523 524 525 526 527 528 529 530 531 532 533 534 535 536 537 538 539 540 541 542 543 544 545 546 547 548 549 550 551 552 553 554 555 556 557 558 559 560 561 562 563 564 565 566 567 568 569 570 571 572 573 574 575 576 577 578 579 580 581 582 583 584 585 586 587 588 589 590 591 592