Notes on Modern Jainism

Author(s): Mrs Sinclair Stevenson
Publisher: Oxford

Page 93

Jaina DIVISIONS OF TIME.
81
(4) Duşuma Susama. The remaining twenty-three Tirtharkara took birth in this period, which lasted for an ocean of time, and the Jaina religion was then fully developed. The people who were born in that age might at death go to any of the four states (Guti),* 1. C., might go to Hell or Heaven or become a man or a beast. A man of this period could generally eat thirty-two morsels of food, and a woman twenty-eight.
(5) Duşama. This is the period in which we are at present living. It began three and a half years after Mahāvira reached Mokșa, and will last for 21,000 years.
No one born in this period can reach Moksa in one life ; however good an ascetic or a layman may be, he must undergo another birth. No Tirthankara will be born during Dusama, and no one will live longer than one hundred years. At the beginning of this period a man's height was seven cubits, but it is gradually decreasing.
We see another proof of the pessimism inherent in Jainism in their belief that during this period the Jaina faith will steadily decline, until at last it is quite extinct.
The last Jaina monk will be called Duppasaha Suri (824218 ), the last nun Falgus'ri (fej ), the last lay man Nägila (1 714 ) and the last lay woman Satyas'ri (78481).
Thoughtful Jaina find this belief as to the imminent extinction of their faith a great bar to energetic action for the spread of Jainism.
(6) Duşamo, Dusama. This period will also last for 21,000 years. In the beginning of the epoch a man's life
* See Page 59.