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SOME JAINA CANONICAL SUTRAS
All inanimate objects possessing forms have got the following five attributes: (1) colour, (2) odour, (3) taste, (4) touch and (5) figure. Like other systems of thought, sound is not regarded as a special attribute. Taste has got five varieties and these are bitter, pungent, astringent, acid and sweet. Salt is not separately mentioned. Touch is also minutely classified. It is of eight types and these are hard, soft, heavy, light, hot, cold, rough and smooth. Figures are classified into ellipse, circle, triangle, etc., but no mention of polygon.
The main interest of the text lies in the classification of the jīvas or animates. They are primarily classified according to the number of sense-organs they possess. Those possessing only one sense-organ, i.e., that of touch, are classified first. Under this head come the following five varieties:
(1) Earth-lives, such as rocks, salt, arids, various metals in the shape of iron, lead, gold, diamond, pigments, (orals, gems, are included in this list. In the Vaiseșika system too hair-splitting arguments are raised to establish the fact that gold falls under the category of fire.
(2) Water lives, such as rain water, hot springs, saline water of the sea, dews and the like.
(3) Fire-lives, such as lightnings, thunder-bolts, luminaries, meteor, etc.
(4) Air-lives, such as storms, intermittent winds, highwinds, low-winds, etc. Even the purely material bodies are also held as jīvas according to the Jainas.
(5) Vegetable and plant lives. An attempt has been made in the gāthās (pp. 36–43) to classify them scientifically and it is interesting to note that various kinds of grass, sugar-canes, and bamboos (p. 40A, gāthā 8) are described together. It should be observed that the twigs, roots, leaves, fruits and flowers of the same tree are said to possess independent lives.
Then comes the world of animals and insects. These are also classified according to principle of the number of sense-organs. The microscopic organisms are not overlooked. Last of all come those which possess all the five sense-organs, namely, that of touch, taste, smell, sight and hearing. Under this head we find the four classes of jīvas, namely, (1) Hellish beings, (2) Gods, (3) Human beings, and (4) Infra-human beings, such as beasts and birds. All these are classified further in detail. In the list of gods, no mention of pitsloka is found.
