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FOURTH CHAPTER THE ORGANISATION OF THE HUMAN BODY
( First Section )
Blood and Circulatory System.
The Organisation of the body (śarira)' of developed animals, particularly, of men, includes the transport system of the body, i. e., blood and vessels (sirās, etc. )2 that supply all cells with nutrients (rasa )3 and remove the waste products (mutta, etc )4 of metabolism and the circulatory systems, the respiratory system, the digestive system together with metabolism and nutrition, the excretory system, the integumentary and skeletal systems, which protect and support the body, the muscular system which moves the various parts of the bodyone on another, the nervous system, the sense-organs by which animals obtain and process information regarding the external environment, and the endocrine system.
Enumerating the contents of the human body the Jainācāryas state that usually this body is a collection of blood (sonita or rudhira) and blood vessels - seven sirās (arteries or veins ), twenty four dhamanis (vessels, veins or arteries carrying nutrient) and eight śrotas (currents ),7 lungs including eparterial bronchioles of trachea (phoppasaphephasa),8 gastro-intestinal tract starting from mouth cavity, oesophagus upto the colon of the large intestine (mukha ...āmoruhakkāśaya
1. Tandula Veyaliya 16, pp. 34–35. 2. Tandula Veyaliya 16, p. 35. (Ruhira, sirās, dhamanis ) and srotas
(Kalyāņakāraka 3.4 ). 3. Imaṁmi sarirae sagitbi sirāsayam Dābhippabhavānām uddhagāminiņām siramuva
gayāņam jāo ? rasaharaniotti vuccanti janaṁsi. etc.” Ibid, p. ?5. "Imassa jamtussa satěthisirāsayāņam nābhippabhvāņām ahogamiaiņām gudappavitthāņam jaṇamsi, niruvaghaeņam muttapurisavāyūkammam pavattai," Ibid., 16.
p. 35. 5. Tandula Veyaliya 16, p. 35. 6. Tandula Veyāliya 3, p. 7; 6, p. 10; 16, p. 35; Kalyāṇakāraka, 3, 7, p. 31 (rakta)
Soniya (Angavijjā, p. 171) 7. Tandula Veyaliya, 16. p. 35 (Sirā ; dhamaņi ( Angavijjā 1970, p. 66);
Kalyānakaraka 3.2; 3.3, p. 30 ; 3.4 ;r, 31. ; Kalyānakāraka mentions eight
srotas (currents ). 3.4, p. 21. 8. Tandula Veyaliya, 17, P, 38.
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