Pristine Jainism

Author(s): S M Jain
Publisher: Parshwanath Vidyapith

Page 11

Shri Jain is in his element in his chapter on Kalpavṛksas (Forests) in Jainism. Marking his point of departure from mythological and canonical literature which attributes "miraculous benevolence" and "superstitious superlatives" to Kalpavṛksas and tends to identify them with Adansonia digitata (the bread trees), Shri Jain takes us to the Jaina tradition expounded by Yati Vṛṣabhācārya in Tiloyapanṇatti who refers to ten illustrative types of Kalpavṛksas. To quote from Tiloyapanṇatti: पाणंग- तूरियंगा भूषण - वत्थंग-भोयगंगा य । आलय-दीविय-भायण-माला-तेजंग आदि कल्पतरु ।। २४२ ।। [Tiloyapanṇatti, 2nd Part 4th Chapter]
Those ten types are Pāṇanga (yielding liquid products for drinking), Tūriyanga (giving wood and other material for making musical instruments), Bhūśaṇānga (giving material flowers etc for ornamentation), Vastränga (giving fibres, dyes, chemicals, gums etc. for clothing etc.), Bhojananga (giving edible fruits, seeds, nuts, leaves, flowers etc for food), Alayanga (giving timber etc for construction of houses), Dīpānga (giving material used for fire, lighting), Bhājanänga (from which material for utensils is available), Mālānga (giving decorative flowers etc.) and Tejanga (which protect from harmful radiations of sun). In another verse, Yati Vṛṣabhācārya mentions the bountiful flowering, fruiting and sprouting trees. Shri Jain then points out that in a generic sense Kalpavṛksas stands for forests and for sustainability. His conclusion is that "preservation of forests is inversely proportional to extension and development for agriculture," and one may add, the preservation of trees and forests "is also inversely proportional to the extension of concrete jungles which threatens sustainable ecology" Kalpavṛksas culture in the Jaina tradition should thus be interpreted as sustainable and environment friendly model of forest culture and agriculture.
Shri Jain deals with cyclic changes and explains the Jaina tradition, which questions the idea of an anthropomorphic Creator-God. The question was raised in Ṛgveda also: "if the universe was created then