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552 : Scientific Contents in Prākṣta Canons
1 2
3 3. Over-eating 7. Overeating 7. Overeating/no
or no-eating eating
8. Unnatural foods
9. Thirst 4. Severe pains 8. Severe pains 5. External causes 9. Drowning in 10. Drowning in
water
water 10. Fall from 11. Fall from mounts
mounts 11. Fall from tree 12. Fall from tree 6. Touch
12. Poisons, 13. Poisons etc.
snakebites etc. 7. Respiratory 13. Respiratory 14. Respiratory obstructions
obstructions obstructions 14. Demigodai 15. Overmeditation -
16. Immoral acts These causes do not include death by trance or voluntary ritual. As these also do not include accidents due to many transport mediums, it seems certain that the modern transport mediums were absent during canonical days. But these could be included in death by external causes. Failure of body parts like heart, kidney etc., is also not here which is very prevalent now-a-days. Here weapons may include bombs also. Kinds of Death
Basically, death has two varieties -(i) natural, timely or normal and (ii) unnatural, untimely or accidental. It is very difficult to define natural death except that it occurs when the life-span karma for the current birth is destroyed. There are very few varieties of living beings which might have natural death. Most have other form of death due to causes described above. The canons, however, indicate two types of death - (i) death of a fool, ignorant and (ii) death of a prudent. They
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