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Jaina Biology
Atmospheric gases - the amount of dissolved oxygen is a limiting factor for certain forms living deep in the soil or on mountain heights and aquatic environments.22
Even fire23 may be a factor of ecologic importance.
“The knowledge of food for plants and animals as revealed in the Jaina work 24 shows that the need of living things for energy is food. Modern Biology defines that "the transfer of food energy from its ultimate sources in plants, through a series of organisms each of which eats the preceding and is eaten by the following is known as food - chain.”25 .
“Man is the end of a number of food - chains, for example, man eats big fish, which ate little fish, which ate small invertebrat ate algae."26
“The ultimate size of the human population is limited by the length of our food - chain, the per cent efficiency of energy transfer at each step in the chain, and by the amount of light energy falling on the earth.”27
It is to be noted in Jaina Biology that parasites (anusüyas )28 may also exist as members of food chains for example, mammals and birds are parasitized by fleas,28 etc. and in the fleas, (damsa )28/a etc., live
22. See Biology, p. 571. See also Sūtrakttānga II. 3 for environment. 23. "te jivā ābaremti teusariram" Sūtrakstānga II. 3. 43, p. 91. 24. Sätrakrtanga II, 3. Abärapiksepa 25. Biology, p. 572. 26. Ibid 27. Ibid. 28 Sūtrakrtānga II. 3. 53.
"Nāṇāvihāņam tasathāvarāņam poggalāņam sariresu vā, sacittesu vă, acittesu Vā, aņusūyațțāc viuftamti, te jivā tesim ņāņāvihāņam tasathāvarāņam pāņāņām sinehamähäremti, etc. up to tesi tasathāvarajoniyāņam anusűyagåņam sarira ņānāvaņņā jāvamakkhāyaṁ ” “Te jivā vikalendriyāḥ sacittesu manusyadigar reçu yükālikşadikatvenotpadyante tathā tatparibhujyamānesu mañcakādişvacitteşu matkuņatven ávir bhavanti /"
Tika ibid p. 102 28/a Bhaga 9.33.3:4
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