Religion and Culture of the Jains

Author(s): D C Sirkar
Publisher: University of Calcutta

Page 44

16 Ibid., p. 241.
R. K. BHATTACHARYA
The Jains hold that water itself is an assemblage of minute animate creatures, and that air, fire, and even lightning have life in them. They admit that the physical substance of clay, water, stone, etc., is a multitude of bodies of living beings, but that, when dried up, they become pure matter, having no life in them. Similarly, according to the Jains, vegetables, trees, fruits, etc., have life in them: but when dried or cooked, this life does not exist any longer. 16
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