________________
xiv
Scientific Vision of Lord Mahāvīra
Ayurveda are important for details of human physiology.
The primary sources related with the proposed text, such as different editions of the Bh.S. and commentaries will have to be properly used. Besides, use of scientific treatises will be necessary for the purposes of this work. Study of secondary sources, such as Jain Metaphysics, books written on and about the Bh.S. and other Indian systems of philosophy, will be necessary for comparison and analysis of the subjects proper. Besides these, developments in modern Biology, Physics, Chemistry and Psychology etc. too will have wide and comprehensive view for doing justice to the subject
matter.
By now, several Indian and foreign scholars have made comparative study of science and philosophy. Some scholars have studied Jain philosophical literature and history etc. in general and the Bh.S. in particular. It will be necessary to take stock of all these studies. Besides, researches in ancient literature will have to be consulted whenever necessary. We are not aware if any study on the Bh.S. has been carried out with special emphasis on its scientific philosophical aspects though some studies are there-Jaina Darśana aura Adhanika Vijñāna (in Hindi), Cosmology: Old and New, Atom in Jain Philosophy & Modern Science, Jaina Darśana aura Vijñāna (In Hindi). These studies, however, exhibit certain shortcomings:
i) Though these studies refer to the Bh.S., the scientific contents of the text have not been brought out extensively much less exhaustively. ii) Moreover, these studies do not take into account the latest concepts of science which have been developed during the last one or two decades. Some of the concepts they have taken up for purposes of comparison are no longer considered tenable or valid. The present study, therefore, has a wider conceptual range in so far as it includes the new vistas which recent scientific advancements have opened.
Hitherto, most of the scholar have just presented and enlisted the parallel topics of philosophy and science. They have tried to discover scientific props for Jain concepts. But our effort in the present study has been directed towards presenting the Jain concepts as they are examining their scientific potentiality.
This research work spans over seven chapters besides the introduction. The first chapter covers a brief outline of the form and contents of the Bh.S and general discussion on philosophy and science. Thereafter in separate chapters we have treated different metaphysical and biological issues from philosophical as well as scientific point of view.
Findings of the Work
The Study of philosophy and science based on the Jain canon Viahāpaṇṇatti i.e. Bhagavatī Sūtra throws light on the issues which are both
