Jain Biology

SR No.: 006905
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Jethalal S Zaveri, Mahendramuni
Publisher: Jain Vishva Bharati
Publication Year: 2008
Total Pages: 152
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 13 MB

Page 103

twigs, leaves, flowers, fruits, seeds
These four sub-divisions of trees are repeated by substituting
(a) creepers (b) grasses (c) herbs (d) shrubs in place of trees. The last are Kuhaņas which have no sub-division.
A) Creepers are defined as plants that creep along ground or
trees,
B) Grasses are defined as small plants, blades and leaves and stalks of which are eaten by horses, cattle, etc. Plants belonging to the order Gramineae (in Botany cereals, reeds and bamboos are included while popularly they are excluded).
C) Herbs are defined as plants of which leaves etc. are used for flavor, food, scent and medicinal purposes. Their stems are not woody or persistent but dies down after flowering.
D) Shrubs are neither trees nor grasses nor herbs. They are defined as woody plants without main trunk of tree but divided into separate stems from near the ground and with above-ground parts which persist in winter.
Nourishment of Plants
We now come to the literal meaning, as discussed in the scripture, i.e. the nourishment (of plants) in Botany.
All the living organisms obtain their nourishment (for survival and growth) from the nutrient fluids extracted from the earth. This is referred to by the phrases, “pudhaviņam siņehamāhāremti”. Term, “sineha’ (sneha) means nutrient fluids; trees which have their roots in the earth have the ability to extract various nutritive substances from the soil, transform them into a fluid mixture and conduct this watery sap, rich in nutrients, upwards through the stem and distribute it to all the parts. This nutritive mixture is composed of the inorganic minerals (earth-bodies), water-bodies, fire-bodies, air-bodies, bodies of plants; they deprive many mobile and immobile organisms of their life and extracting the nutrients
-: 88 :
JAIN BIOLOGY