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Scientific Thought Evident in the Labdhisāra
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The mathematical contents of the Labdhisāra bear testimony to evolution of a scientific spirit from the period of the source material (c. 1st century A.D.) and even from still remoter period, in India, specifically in the Jaina School of Mathematics, where the Karma theory became predominant, flourishing in various schools of thought. The Digambara Jaina School took the lead in its mathematical exposition, not only through semantics but also through symbolism.
According to Russell, “Most sciences, at their inception, have been connected with some form of false belief, which gave them a fictitious value. Astronomy was connected with astrology, chemistry with alchemy. Mathematics was associated with a more refined type of error. Mathematical knowledge appeared to be certain, exact, and applicable to the real world: moreover it was obtained by mere thinking without the need of observation .......... This form of philosophy begins with Pythagoras."'16
At this threshold, we pause to give a thought to the evolution of the theory of Karma as naive scientific thought in India with Vardhamāna Mahāvīra. We wish to go through, in brief, the underlying concepts, methods and procedures in the vast literature available specifically with the Digambara Jaina School. No doubt, these might have been intermingled with astrology, alchemy, metaphysics, and so on, through various passages, yet the precision in the Digambara Jaina School draws special attention owing to the following descriptions which may be compared with their analogous set up in modern science. [Vide Volodarski, A.I., 1968, 1971, 1975, 1983, 1985 BR, and other papers in BR in "Exact Sciences in the Karma Antiquity” for a brief survey).
A. Sets (Rāśis)
In the Labdhisāra the terms numerate (samkhyeya), innumerable (asamkhyeya) and infinite (ananta) appear as numbermeasure (samkhyā-pramāna). These are minimal (jaghanya), intermediate (madhyama) and maximal (utkrsta). Terms like pit (palya) and sea (sāgara) are sets of instants and universe (loka) is a
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