Jain Journal 2013 07

Author(s): Satyaranjan Banerjee
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication

Page 14

A Comparative Study of Jaina Taxonomy and
Zoological Taxonomy with Special Reference to Tattvārtha Sūtra
Dr. Anindita Mitra*
Introduction The recognition of basic kinds of organisms, and arranging their properties into higher categories in classifications, was an ancient human imperative. All cultures have complex biological classifications, and it is extremely interesting to trace changes in these classifications throughout this story including the scientific era. Detailed review of this history include Raven etc. al(1971)," Mayr (1982), Dupuis (1984), Hull (1988)*, and Stevens (1994, 2000)'. Early folk taxonomies came out of prehistory andwere oriented towards practicality and human uses of organisms (Raven et al., 1971)1. Organisms were grouped by their relationship with human affairs. Fine-scale groups in the hierarchy tended to compare closely with modern scientific classifications, while higher-level groups often departed radically. The first scientific revolution in biological systematics was that provided by the ancient Greeks; as in many fields of science, they justified a new logical framework within which to view the natural world. The effect of this on systematics was nicely discussed by Hull (1965)', an defined by the possession of necessary and sufficient defining traits. In the minds of taxonomists in the Christian Era, these essential characteristics were taken as evidence of the plan of creation, with the more inclusive levels in the taxonomic hierarchy being the major elements of the plan, and species the basic elements (Agassiz, 1859)". Such a view, which reached its culmination in the work of Linnaeus, became invalid as the wealth of biological diversity became known due to the explorations of the 18th and 19th defining characters became an obvious problem when a group
*
Assistant Professor of Zoology, Bankura Christian College, West Bengal