Jaina Biology

SR No.: 001543
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: J C Sikdar
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad
Total Pages: 340
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, Science, Biology, & Philosophy
File Size: 19 MB

Page 47

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Jaina Biology In the Jaina Ägamas81 it is stated that the developing organism in the mother's womb at first feed on the ojas (i. e. yolk) of the mother and the śukra-semen (i. e. sperm cells) of the father or both combined into an unclean, foul substance from the time of fertilization until they are able to obtain food from the mother's body through the Putrajivarasaharani ( umbilical cord ).82 This Jaina view is corroborated by the Nyāya Kandali83 and modern Biology also which explains that “The cytoplasm of the eggs of most animals, but not of the higher mammals, contains a large amount of yolk which serves as food for the developing organism from the time of fertilization until it is able to obtain food in some other way."84
Plant Tissues :
It appears from the study of asexual reproduction ( sammūrcchima ) of plants from seeds, roots, knots and stems,86 evolutionary trends in the plant kingdom from algae to angiosperm and organization of higher plants into roots, bulb, stem, bark, twigs or branches, leaves, flowers, fruits and seeds87 that the cells of higher plants are also organized and differentiated into tissues. In Jaina histology four main types of tissues may be recognized, viz. meristematic, protective, fundamental and conductive as they are found in modern Biology. 88
Meristematic Tissue :
An embryonic plant begins development composed entirely of meristem, when the seed becomes transformed into a nucleus.89
As it develops, most of the meristem
becomes differentiated into
82.
81. Sūtrākstānga, II, 3,5%; Bhagavati 1.7.61; Tandulaveyaliya Sūtra, 1, p. 6.
“Imo khalu jivo ammāpiusamyoge māyuyam piusukkam tam tadubhayasamsattham Kalusan Kibbisam tappadhamayãe, ahāraṁ ähäritta gabb hattäevakkamai /" Tandulaveyaliya 1, p. 6.
Bhagavati 1..61; Tandulaveyaliya 4, p. 8. 83. Samutpannapākajaiḥ kalalärambhakaparamāņubhiḥ. pirūḥ śukraṁ mātuh soņitam
tayoh sappipātānantaiam jatharanalasambandhät sukrasonitārambhakegu para.
mānuşu.. kalalasarįrotpatih etc. Sridhara, N. Kandali, Prthivinirūpanam. 84. Biology, pp. 44-51.
“ Aygatīyā mūlābiya porabiya khandhabiya /" Sūtrakstāåga, II, 3.45, p. 91. “Mūlagge pirebija kandā ta ha Khamdhabījabijaruha Sama ucebima ya bhaniya patteyānamtakayā ya // " Gommata sāra, (Jivekānda18.
Agga biya : Sūtrakrtānga, II. 345. 87. Rukkhesu mūlattae kamdattāe khandhattae tayattae salatäe pivālattae pattattāe
pupphattae phalattāc biyattāè viuț;amti l" Sūtrakstānga, II, 3.47: Gommațasāra, 7
(Jiva ) 188 88. Biology, p. 51. 89. Gommațasāra (Jivakāņda ), vv. 187-8.
86.
A