120 



G. Thibaufc — On the Suryaprajnapti. 



[No. 3, 



were six different opinions about the distance of the two suns from each 

 other on the longest day when the sun — or the two suns — describe the inner- 

 most and smallest circle. According to some teachers, the distance of the 

 two from each other, or in other words the diameter of the circle they 

 describe amounts to 1,133 yojanas, according to others to 1,134 yojanas ; 

 according to others again to 1,135 yojanas. Most probahly we have to 

 combine with these statements the statements given in the nest chapter 

 (I, 5) regarding the different opinions prevailing on the extent to which 

 the sun " immerges" himself into the Jambudvipa and into the salt ocean. 

 There we read that, according to one opinion the sun moves on the 

 longest day in a circle which projected on the Jambudvipa is dis- 

 tant 1,133 yojanas from the edge of the latter, while on the shortest 

 day he describes a circle above the salt ocean at the distance of 1,133 

 yojanas from the Jambudvipa. According to the opinions of two other 

 sets of teachers, the number of yojanas in both cases is 1,134 and 

 1,135. If we combine these measures with the measures of the diameter 

 of the innermost solar circle given above (and the sameness of the figures 

 seems to entitle us to do so, although this is by no means explicitly stated), 

 we get for the diameter of the whole Jambudvipa 1,133 (= diameter of the 

 innermost circle) + 2 x 1,133 ( = distance of the innermost circle from 

 the edge of the Jambudvipa on both sides), therefore altogether 3,399 yoja- 

 nas ; or, starting from the numbers 1,134 and 1,135, 8,402 or 3,405 yojanas. 

 These are very moderate dimensions compared with the 100,000 yojanas, 

 which length the author of the Suryaprajnapti himself attributes to the 

 diameter of the Jambudvipa, and we shall not be mistaken in ascribing to 

 opinions of this nature a considerably greater antiquity than to those 

 represented by the Suryaprajiiapti. Besides, there is another circumstance 

 in favour of such a view. The Suryaprajiiapti throughout makes use of 

 the relation \/ 10 : 1 for calculating the circumference of a circle. Thus 

 for instance the diameter of the Jambudvipa being 100,000 (yojanas), its 

 circumference is said to amount to 310,227 yojanas 3 gavy. 128 dhan. 13|- 

 ang. But those teachers who stated the diameter of the innermost solar 

 circle to amount to 1,133 or 1,134 or 1,135 yojanas stated at the same time 

 that its circumference amounts to 3,399 or 3,402 or 3,405 yojanas, i. e., they 

 made use of the relation 3 : 1 for calculating the circumference of a circle 

 from its diameter. The adoption of this very rough approximate value 

 seems to point back to a comparatively ancient time.* 



* It seems that all Jaina books take 1 : \/lO as expressing the relation of the 

 diameter to the circumference. See for instance Bhagavati Sutra II, 1. 45 (Weber, 

 p. 264), -where, however, some confusion seems to have crept into the figures. The old 

 and simple relation 1 : 3 is found for instance in the Bhumiparvan contained in the 

 Bhishmaparvan of the Mahabharata. There the circumferences of the planets are 



