Article: Leśyā

Attributes of the leśyās
Image by Diwakar Prakashan / Padma Prakashan © Diwakar Prakashan / Padma Prakashan

Of the Śvetāmbara canonical works, the 34th chapter of the Uttarādhyayana-sūtra and the 17th chapter of the Prajñāpanā-sūtra are specifically devoted to leśyā (Wiley 2000: 348; Shah 1971: 350–354). These passages deal with all the aspects of the concept.

The Uttarādhyayana chapter contains various poetical metres (Alsdorf 1968: 214–220). It has a minority of ślokas and a majority of āryās. This suggests two stages in its composition. It has been demonstrated that the chapter has a nucleus concerned with leśyā, specifically the:

• names of the six colours
• description of the six colours
• types of activities that cause the various types.

All other information on the attributes of leśyās represents an amplification reflecting ‘a later development of Jaina doctrine’ (Alsdorf 1968: 219). These attributes are:

• taste – rasa
• smell – gandha
• touch – sparśa
• degree of intensity – pariṇāma
• symptom – lakṣaṇa
• variety – sthāna
• duration – sthiti
• result – gati
• lifespan – āyuḥ.

Other canonical texts with material on leśyā are the:

• third Aṅga of the Śvetāmbara canon, the Sthānāṅga-sūtra
• fifth Aṅga, the Viyāha-pannatti, also called the Bhagavatī or Vyākhyā-prajñapti (Schubring 1962 [2000]:196–7; Banthiya 1966).

Śvetāmbara works specifically dedicated to the karma doctrine are another source for the understanding of the concept. They are:

• the six karma-granthas in Prakrit verse, written in particular by Devendra-sūri in the 13th century
• the Pañca-saṃgraha, in Prakrit verses, by Candrarṣi Mahattara
• the Karma-prakṛti, also in Prakrit verses, by Śivaśarma-sūri.

Their main Sanskrit commentaries, written by Malayagiri in the 12th century, are indispensable in understanding them.

Cosmological treatises, such as the kṣetra-samāsas or the saṃgrahaṇīs, also discuss leśyās. Since leśyās are connected to karma, they are instrumental in the forms of rebirths. Hence they are crucial in the place which various beings have in the Jain universe.

The Leśyā Kośa is a 20th-century Hindi encyclopaedia of leśyā that claims to be a comprehensive catalogue of material to date. It is based on Śvetāmbara writings.

Parable of the tree
Image by British Library © CC0 1.0 (Creative Commons Public Domain)

It can be demonstrated (Malde 2011) that the concept of leśyā plays an important role in Jain karma theory. This goes against Schubring’s contention that ‘…the concept is of secondary nature, and can stay out of the system without leaving a gap in its composition’ (Schubring 1962/2000: 196; see also Wiley 2011: 21).

The concept of leśyā in Jainism has two applications, which may be related to different stages in the development of karma theories.

Firstly, it is used allegorically to grade the purity of the soul. It is thus a useful tool in pedagogical understanding and the transmission of doctrine. The idea itself may have started when the karma doctrine was not fully developed and colour was used to symbolise the quality of soul or deed in early Jain thought. This use is illustrated in parables and links to the classes of deities.

Secondly, the concept gained a technical, ontological application. Once karma was interpreted in terms of the theory of atoms, the allegorical notion of colours’ association with certain actions was explained as a material property of karmic matter. Hence as the karma doctrine became more sophisticated, so did the concept of leśyā (Tatia 1966: 22). Jain ontology accepts dual reality, that of soul and matter. It is their union that gives colour to the soul. This joining together of soul and karmic particles is the cause of samsāra – the cycle of rebirths. When karmic matter becomes stuck to the soul, it changes it in various ways. One of these changes is an alteration in colour, which is its leśyā. Hence the frequent definition of leśyā as ‘karmic stain’.

Parable of the tree
Image by British Library © CC0 1.0 (Creative Commons Public Domain)

Six men see a jambū or rose-apple tree, full of ripe fruit. They want to eat the fruit but climbing the tall tree is dangerous. They think about how they can fetch the rose-apples. Their ideas are linked to the six colours of the leśyās.

Robber

Groups of gods and leśyās

Chapter 4 of the Tattvārtha-sūtra also shows how colours of leśyās are explicitly used as shorthand for moral conditions. In this chapter (4.2, 4.7, 4.21, 4.23) the leśyās are connected with each of the four classes – nikāyas – of gods – devas. With darker leśyās assigned to gods in the lower regions of the upper world, the leśyās get progressively purer for divinities in the higher regions of the upper world.

There are differences between Śvetāmbaras and Digambaras in the understanding of this point and therefore in the sectarian versions of the Tattvārtha-sūtra.

The Śvetāmbara text reads: ‘the third [class of gods] is of yellow colour’ – tṛtīyaḥ pīta-leśya iti.

The Digambara version reads: ‘in the three [classes of gods] from the beginning, the colours up to yellow’ – āditas triṣu pītānta-leśyāḥ.

The same point is discussed in the cosmological works known as saṃgrahaṇīs, namely which leśyā(s) do the different groups of gods have? The list of six colours is given on this occasion, and it is in this context that the concept is illustrated through paintings of the parable of the tree.

More generally, the exposition on leśyā implies discussing which and how many types are possible in which form of existence (Prajñāpanā: table in Shah 1971: 351). Souls of beings born in hells have black, blue or grey colours. Inferior varieties of animals are treated like the Vyantara gods.

The full range of leśyās is found among human beings. This is why it is connected with the human destiny – manuṣya-gati. It is also found in animals born from a womb.