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treats it at his own house. He puts the hair into a medicated solution; the effect on the hair gets transmitted to the patient's body. It is on the basis of such experiments that taste-therapy, smell-therapy and touch-therapy have evolved and are being further developed.
A king's prime minister lost his eye-sight. The king procured from abroad a special collyrium for his faithful minister. Only two collyrium-smeared spokes could be procured-one for each eye. The minister passed one spoke through one of his eyes. He found his lost vision restored. He was about to pass the second spoke through the other eye when he reflected, "Of course, I would regain my vision of both eyes, but what about thousands of sightless people in my country?" And instead of passing the second spoke through his other eye, he applied it to his tongue. Some people said, “What foolishness!"But the prime minister kept silent. He was an analyst of flavours. By tasting the powder he knew what its constituents were. On the basis of his experience and knowledge, he prepared a large quantity of collyrium and was thus able to benefit a large number of people in the kingdom. All were filled with admiration for the prime minister's intelligence, and made their obeisance to him.
Q. You have given us a good deal of information about
— the colour, taste and smell of leshyas. What about the concept of touch in the Jain Agamas?
Ans. In the classification of colour and taste, a detailed
- analysis in respect of each leshya separately is available in the Jain Agamas. But in the classification of leshyas on the basis of smell, only two alternatives-clean and unclean-are given. Likewise, in the classification
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