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The Organisation of the Human Body
155
The descending dhamanis run down to the intestines (pakkāśaya - bhūtanityam Sthūlāntrapamtih );169a kidneys (mūtrāśaya), bladder and rectum, and transport, in pairs as before, urine and other secretions and excreta and also the chyle from the small intestines to the ascending as well as the ramifying dhamanis. In addition some of them conduct sweat to the ramifying dhamanis 170.
The Third group: Tiryak Dhamanīs :
The four dhamanis called tiryak dhamanis ramify obliquely over the body into millions of fibres and fibrillae, which terminate in the pores of the skin. Their function is to conduct the sensory currents of touch to the central organ of the heart (including the internal organic sensations) from all parts of the periphery. As a result of their connection with the pores of the skin "they transport sweat outwards and the influences of baths, embrocations, and fomentations inwards". 171
Although Jaina Biology does not clearly explain the functions of dhamanis, nevertheless it is suggestive from the mention of equal number of 24 dhamanis that they carry on the same functions as explained in the Sušruta.
Srotas (currents ) :
As pointed out, Jaina Biology mentions eight srotas, 172 In aggreement with this view the Susruta states that the chyle, the blood, the vāyu (oxygen), the metabolic fluid (pitta ), the lymph (kaph ), the
169a Ibid. 170. Adhogamāstu vātamūtrapurişaśukrárttavādinyadho vahanti, tāstu pittasayama
bhipratipannästatrasthamevānnapānara sam vipakkamausmyadvivecayantyo abhivahantyah sariram tarpayantyarpayanti cordhvagatādām tiryaggatānām rasasthanam cabhii ürayanti můtrapurişasvedāmsca vivecayantyāmapakkāśayāntare ca tridbā jayante tastrimsat / tāsām tu vātapittakaphasonitarasān dve dve bahatastā daśa / dve annavāhinyāvanträsritä ... upto pakkasaya kaimūtrapurișagudabastimedhrasakthinidhāryante yāpyante ca" 5 Sarfrasthāna, Susruta, Chapter 9.
:71. Tiryazgānām tu catasrņām dhamapināmaikaikā katadhā sahasradhá cottarotta
ram vibhajyante tāstvasamkhyeyastabhiridam sariram gavākşitam vibaddhamatatam ca/ taşām mukhāni romakūpapratibaddhāni yaih svedamabhivahanti rasaṁ cāpi santarpayantyantarbahisca; taireva cabhyangaparişekāvagahalepanaviryāṇyantahsariramabhipratipadyante tvaci vipakkāni taireva sparśasukhamasuk ham vā gļhņāti, tāstvetascatasto dhamanyah sarvāngagatāḥ savibbāga
vyākhyātāḥ" 1.6, Sarirasthāna 9, Susruta. 172. Kalyāņakāraka, 3.4, p. 31.
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