Studies in South Indian Jainism

Author(s): M S Ramaswami Ayyangar, B Seshagiri Rao
Publisher: M S Ramaswami Ayyangar

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50 THE JAINS IN THE TAMIL LAND." Chāttanār, a staunch Buddhist. But enlightened Jain opinion is, that excepting Dharmāstikāya, every other point of the Jain system
is fairly represented. Nigrantha “Leaving this confusion of words, she (Manisystem as preached
mēkalai) asked the Niganta (Nigranta) to state to the Tamils.
who was his God, and what he was taught in his sacred books, and to explain correctly how things exist and are formed or dissolved. He said that his God is worshipped by Indras : and that the books revealed by him describe the following : The wheel of Law, the axle of Law, Time, Ether, Soul, Eternal atoms, good deeds, bad deeds, the bonds created by those deeds and the way to obtain release from those bonds. Things by their own nature, or by the nature of other objects to which they are attached, are temporary or everlasting. Within the short period of a Kshana (second), they may pass through the three unavoidable stages, appearance, existence and dissolution. That a margosa tree sprouts and grows is eternal: bhat it does not possess that property is temporary. Green gram when made into a sweetmeat with other ingredients does not lose its nature, but loses its form. The wheel of Law (Dharma) pervades everywhere and moves all things in order and for ever. In the same way the axle of Law retains everything and prevents dissolution). Time may be divided into seconds or extend to Eons. Ether expands and gives room for everything. The soul entering a body will, through