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The Organisation of the Human Body
159
having the shape of loius and with the outer petals removed and turned upside down, it is smooth outside and inside like the interior of Kosataki or spongy gourd (Luffa aegyptiaca ). Inside it there is a hollow, the size of a punnāga seed's bed where half a pasata 184 ( Sanskrit prasmli) measure of blood is kept”. 185 According to Jaina Biology, heart is a hollow muscular organ measuring 3 1/2 palya, 186 It is situated “in the thorax between the lungs and above the central depression of the diaphragm. It is about the size of the closed firt; shaped like a blunt cone, and is directed upward, backward and to the right\"187
According to modern Biology, "the heart of man and other mammals and of birds is divided into four chambers, the upper right and the atria (auricle) and the lower right and left ventricles. The atria, which have relatively thin walls, receive blood from the veins and push
into the Ventricles. The latter, with much thicker walls, pump the blood out of the heart and around the body". 188
Routes of the Blood around the Body :
To understand how the circulatory system carries material from one part of the body to another, some konwledge of how the blood vessels (Siras and Dhamanis) are connected is necessary. In any particular vessel blood flows, in one direction only. The circulation of the blood is made by two sets of vessels-Siras (veins) and Dhamanisarteries. 189 The entire vascular system takes its rise from the naval point in the foetus. From this central alimentary tract there originate these two sets of vessels 190 for the transportation of the blood.
The blood - Vascular System :
As pointed out, the blood Vascular system of Jain Biology can be understood in the light of Brāhmanical Biology. There are two classes
184. According to metric measurement, prasrti signifies 93, 312 miligrams, vide,
J. R. T. M., Vol I. No. 2. p. 275, Sce Sacitra Ayurveda, March, 1972 p. 78. 185. Visuddhimagga, VIII. Haddyan ... cassa punnagathi ... addhapasatamattani
Lohitam etc." 186. Addhu thapaliyam hiyayam", Tandula Veyaliya, 16, p. 35.;
"hrdayantaravartimamsakhandam sardhapalatrayam bhavati l", 187. Anatomy and Physiology, p. 341 Ibid, p. 36. 188. Biology, p. 264 189. Tandula Veyaliya 16, p. 35. Im immi sarirae satthisirasayam nabhippabhavānañ ;
Ibid 2, p. 6. 190. Ibid, 16, p. 35
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