History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v5.c71.s1.661

v5.c71.s1.661

mountain Meru, 84000 yojanas high and sixteen below and thrice as much in length and width, which is called *svarga*. But it would be far from the truth to say that all eminent writers were agreed on the actual existence of *svarga* and *naraka* as *places*. It has already been shown how several centuries before Christ Gautama refers to the view of some predecessors of his that *naraka* is not *a place*, but simply means the loss of the capacity to perform the peculiar actions of one's *varṇa* There were others who argued in the same strain. Śabara (on Jai IV. 3. 27–28) quotes a Vedic passage where the view of the sage appears to be that sacrifices yield the reward promised by śruti in the next life and where Kumārila⁴⁰³ in his brief comment propounds the view that the injunctive passage (*vidhi*) of the Veda only promises a reward but does not state that it follows immediately in this life, that *svarga* which means unsurpassed joy, can happen only in another life. On Jaimini VI. 1. 1. Sabara first puts forward the *prima facie* view that *svarga*⁴⁰⁴ imports in popular language such things (*dravya*) as fine silken clothes, sandalwood paste, young damsels only 16 years old and that the word *svarga* is also popularly applied to a particular *place* where there is neither heat nor cold, neither hunger nor thirst, neither distress nor fatigue and where only those that have done meritorious deeds can reach and not others. Śabara refutes this view and holds that the primary meaning of the word *svarga* is joy⁴⁰⁵ or delight and not a thing (*dravya*) which brings joy.