A Jaina View of Cosmos — a comparative study (Kastur Chand Lalwani)

Summary

K. C. Lalwani surveys Jain cosmology in historical and comparative perspective. He opens with methodological cautions: cosmology often bores modern readers, yet it repays attention because it encodes metaphysical and ethical commitments. Lalwani distinguishes cosmology (ordered structure of the universe) from cosmogony (origin stories), then tracks comparative materials from Hebrew, Greek, and Indian sources to situate Jain views. A key claim is that Jain cosmology posits an eternal universe subject to transformation (paryāya) without absolute creation or annihilation—consistent with doctrines like naya and anekāntavāda. The paper outlines reasons humans became interested in the cosmos (aesthetic wonder, practical calendrics), reviews ancient and medieval hypotheses (from Aristarchus to Ptolemy), and contrasts these with modern science, including the steady‑state and evolutionary models known in the 1960s. Against both creationism and simplistic evolutionism, Jain thought emphasizes an ordered plurality of substances—jīva and ajīva—with moral law (karma) integral to the structure of reality. The discussion of continents, oceans, and the triple worlds (ūrdhva, madhya, adho‑loka) shows how cosmography organizes ethical aspiration: liberation requires moving beyond attachment situated in the middle world. Lalwani argues that, while the imagery can seem pre‑scientific, its regulative ideas—order, plurality, moral causality— remain philosophically suggestive. The article ends 'to be continued,' signaling further exposition to come.