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Biology in Jaina Treatise on Reals
activities and deciding desirables and undesirables with respect to their body welfare.
The sexuality has developed in them through three stages- (i) asexuality or spontaneity (ii) bi-sexuality and (iii) uni-sexuality. Most of the animals and flowering plants have externally or microscopically visible sexual procreation. The canonical 2-sensed class is zoologically a highly mixed one in comparision to 3/4-sensed class. The canonically five-sensed living beings have also been classified but on different criteria. One finds many points of difference here too. The enquiring reader is referred to 'Scientific Contents in Prākṛta Canons' (PVRI, Varanasi, 1996) to know more about this topic.
Many of the above points are in direct contrast with the canons. However, it may be pointed out that the later scholars modified their views in many cases in case of sexual or a-sexual procreation. Even Kalpasūtra mentions oviparous (uterine) character of bees, spiders and reptiles. The microscopic age requires other points also to be taken care of. The Table-3 below gives a comparative classification of the living beings.
S. No.
1.
2.
3.
4.
Canonical
class
Worms
Ants
Black bees
5-sensed
Table-3 Classes of living beings Examples
(i) round, tape, flat, segmented etc.
worms
(ii) Conch, leech
ants, centipede.
cockroach, insects, spider, bugs, pea
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etc.
scorpion, lice, flea
different bees.
butterfly, flies, mosquito, locust, scorpion. spider.
fleas
water-moving
sky-moving(birds) land-moving
Biological class
Annelida,
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Arthropoda, Mollusca Arthropoda
Arthropoda
The worldly beings have been described to be of two kinds (mobiles and non-mobiles). They have five classes with respect to the senses. The next aphorism intends to describe the classes of five-sensed beings which have not yet been described:
Euchordata class,
Amphibia
Aves
Reptiles, mammals
Sanjninah Samanaskah
2.24
The living beings with mind (and five senses) are called instinctive (Sanjni) ones.
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