Jaina Biology

Author(s): J C Sikdar
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

Page 183

172
The Salivary Glands :
Jaina Biology does not make mention of the salivary glands, but its reference to saliva (lala 36 suggests that the Jainacāryas had some idea of salivary gland which assist the food in moving down the throat, as well as to begin its chemical breakdown by secreting two kinds of saliva-"one type is watery to dissolve dry food and the other contains mucus to lubricate the food as it passes down the oesophagus and to make the food particles stick together in bolus (kavala) for swallowing."37
Food passes from the mouth cavity to the stomach (amoru or udara)38 through the pharynx and oesophagus as a result of peristalsis. Similar peristaltic waves help the movement of the contents of eaten food through all the organs of the digestive tube. The live airs (PancaVayus) Prana, apana, samana, Vyana and udana, causing the peristaltic waves, help the movement of the contents of food, its ingestion, digestion and absorption, etc.39
The Stomach (Udara or Amoru )40
The stomach is a thick-walled muscular sac on the left side of the body just beneath the lower rics. "Soon after the food reaches the stomach, peristaltic waves begin in the pyloric region as a result of the action of air (vayu), 14 passing from left to right, according to Modern Biology, toward opening into the into tho intestine42 (amta) At intervals, the pyloric sphincter relaxes, and a small amount of chyme is pushed into the small intestine by the contraction of the stomach."43
Jaina Biology
36. Aupapātika Sutra, edited by Dr. Leumann, Leipzig, gatha. 55, (38) "Haya lalapelaväirege dhavau", 48.
37. Biology. p. 299.
38. Kalyāṇakāraka, 3.4 (ämoru); 'Udara', Tandula Veyaliya, p. 38.
39. "Prāṇasthāpānasamānasaṁjñāu / Vyāno apyathodana-iti pradiştah pamcaiva ti vāyava eva nitya - maharanihāravinirgamarthaḥ //", Kalyāṇakāraka, 3.9.
40. Tandula Veyaliya, 17, p. 38; Kalyaṇakāraka, 3.4.
41. Kalyāṇakaraka, 3.9; see the metabolism and nutrition discussed at the end of this section.
42. Biology p. 301.
43. Biology, p. 301.