Page:The Heart of Jainism (IA heartofjainism00stevuoft).djvu/165

stand this we must try and grasp a new idea of anatomy. The five Saṅgheṇa.The Jaina believe that sinews are wrapped round the bones of the human frame like a bandage, and that on the tightness of this wrapping the strength of the body depends. Sin has affected this bandage in five particular ways: firstly (Ṛiṣabhanārāċa saṅgheṇa), owing to the general depravity of the age, the peg that fastened the bandage tightly to the human frame and prevented its getting unwound has dropped out, and got permanently lost, so that there is no security against loss of bodily strength. As the world has grown steadily wickeder, the bandage has passed through successive stages of becoming loose (Nārāċa saṅgheṇa) and so greatly weakening the body; dropping half off (Ardhanārāċa saṅgheṇa); slipping right off (Kīlikā saṅgheṇa), so as to leave only the two little nails that fastened the bones before they were bandaged; until at last we reach the present epoch, when not only has the bandage entirely disappeared (Sevārtta saṅgheṇa), but also the nails that held the bones, and so the human frame, having lost the strength the bandage formerly gave, as well as the cohesion due to the nails, now only keeps together in a weakened condition ‘owing to sockets, &c.’!

The five Saṁsthāna.Sin also results in various deformities in the human body. A good figure is held to be a reward of past merit, and the various failures to reach the perfect physical standard are the fruits of sin. As the upper portion of a banyan tree is famous for its beauty, whilst nearer the ground it looks ugly enough, so it often happens that, though the head and trunk of a man are perfectly formed, his legs are short and spindly; this failure of upper and lower to correspond (Nyagrodhaparimaṇḍaḷa saṁsthāna) is the fruit of sin. So is the reverse (Sādi saṁsthāna), when the head and trunk are miserably thin and badly developed, while the legs are strong and vigorous. Or the head and legs may be normal, but the torso ill-formed (Kubjaka saṁsthāna). The result of sin may be to make a man a dwarf (Vāmana saṁsthāna); and