Scientific Vision Of Lord Mahāvīra: Curvature in the Universe

The wonder-evoking postulate we find in the Bh.S. is the assumption of curvature in cosmos. The questions raised are where is the most contracted part of the universe? Is curvature somewhere in the universe? The answer given by Lord Mahāvira is that the center of the middle section is the most contracted part of the universe.^[92] and near the fifth heaven the universe is curved.^[93] Besides, wherever the universe is contracted and expanded, there is curvature. Such curvatures are found only in the ends of the universe.^[94] This assumption is really similar to the cosmologists of today. It is somehow closer to the Einstein preposition of the curvature of threedimensional space with slight difference. By that he supposed that the universe is finite. According to the general theory of relativity, "the three dimensional space of our universe can curve around itself and be finite just like the curved surface of the earth".^[95] Inspite of having accepted the finite of the universe the scientists, like Jains, also regard that we would never encounter a physical boundary or a stop sign that says the universe ends here.