Scientific Secrets of Jainism

Author(s): Nandighoshvijay
Publisher: Research Institute of Scientific Secrets from Indian Oriental Scriptures Ahmedabad

Page 132

Limitations Of Mathematics In Jain Philosophy And....
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number. Counting begins with number two. *Therefore, two is called the lowest numeral. Then the numbers from three onwards to the number which is less than the lowest innumerable number by two are called intermediate numeral numbers. The number which is less than the lowest innumerable number by one is called the highest numerable number. We can know the highest numerable number, if we know the lowest innumerable number. It is very difficult to know which and how many digits the lowest innumerable number has. Jain canonical scriptures show one method for this. But with the help of it nobody has yet arrived at the number of digits. But the number must be much larger than one Śirşaprahēlikā which consists of 250 digits. One sirsaprahēlikā = (84,00,000) *** =187,955,179,550,112,595,419,009,699,813,430,770,797,465,494, 261,977,747,657,257,345, 718, 6816 x 10'. We cannot even imagine the digits of the lowest innumerable number.
Innumerable numbers are of nine kinds : (1) the lowest Paritta Asankhyāta, (2) the intermediate Paritta Asankhyāta (3) the highest Paritta Asankhyāta (4) lowest Yukta Asankhyāta, (5) the intermediate Yukta Asankhyāta (6) the highest Yukta Asankhyāta (7) the lowest Asankhyāta Asankhyāta (8) the intermediate Asankhyāta Asankhyāta (9) the highest Asankhyāta Asankhyāta.“
Similarly, infinite numbers are of nine kinds. They are as follows: (1) the lowest Paritta Ananta (2) the intermediate Paritta Ananta (3) the highest Paritta Ananta (4) the lowest Yukta Ananta (5) the intermediate Yukta Ananta (6) the highest Yukta Ananta (7) the lowest Ananta Ananta (8) the intermediate Ananta Ananta (9) the highest Ananta Ananta."
Regarding Jain mathematics Sarju Tiwari writes :- "The Jain philosophy of ahimsā (nonviolence) was totally opposed to the sacrificial cult of the Hindus. They developed geometrical concepts in their own way. The Jain cosmography conceived the shape of the universe, the mountains and the continents as trapezia. They used simple and short mathematical methods. Their assumption of the circular orbits of the heavenly bodies such as the Sun, the Moon, the Mars etc. and the circular shape of the earth, led them to study the property of circles and parallelograms. Their studies enabled them to evaluate the value of n as V10.
The book written in English by Śri sankarācāryaji entitled 'The Vaidic