Jaina Biology

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

Page 62

The World of Life: Plants
(see also Aiyer ),19 the equivalent scientific names of which have been given by the experts. There is mention of about 739 plants20 and over 250 animals in the ancient literature. The whole 24th chapter of the Yajurveda embodies valuable materials on Zoology.21 A bewildering variety of birds, and about 21 kinds of snakes are described, each distinct by its own particular features of colour, structure or habit. There is also mention of microscopic organism - bacteria, and insects of terrestrial and aquatic organ22 and fish.23
Distinctions Between Plants and Animals
The living world may broadly be divided into two kingdoms, one of plants24 (vanaspati) and one of animals (pasu )25 on the basis of the category of Tairyagyanna 26 (lower animals) in Jaina Biology. The word Vanapphai 27 (plant) suggests trees, shrubs, flowers, grasses
and vines - large and familar objects of every day world. And the word
pasu 28 indicates both wild 29 and domestic30 animals in a wider sense, such as, lions, tigers, cows, buffaloes, birds, frogs, fish, etc.
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In the Vedic literature also the plant kingdom has been divided into trees, herbs, shrubs, creepers and grasses.31 The term ' Vrkṣa
32.
19. Aiyer, A. K. Y. N., Agriculture and Allied arts in Vedic India, Bangalore Press, Bangalore, pp. 32-45. 1949.
20. Shastry, V. R., Science in the Vedas, Bulletin of National Institute of Science of India, No. 21, p. 102, 1963.
21.
"Asvastuparo gomṛgaste prajapatyah. etc." Yajurveda, 24th chapter.
22. Srinivasa Rao, His:ory of our Knowledg: of the Indian Fauna through the Ages,
Journal of Bombay National History Society, 54, 251-280. 1957.
23. Macdonell, A. A., and Keith, A. B, op. cit. p. 510, 1012. See Biology in Ancient
and Medieval India. Dr. R. N. Kapil, vide The Indian Journal of History of Sciences, Vol. 5, No. 1. 1970, p. 126. for all these references.
24. Bhagavati 24.16.707 (Birth of plant-bodied beings).
25. Ibid. 3.1.134; 11.9.417.
26. Tattvärthadhigama Sutra II, 6; Bṛhatsaṁgrahani, Śricandrasuri, vv. 419-434, pp. 234 242; Tiryamcaḥ p.mcadhaikākṣā ikāh "Paṁcākṣasimakāh 1", Lokap akāśa 4.16; Gommaṭasāra (Jiva) 146.
27. Bhagavati 24.16.707; 33.1.844.
28. Bhagavati Sūtra, 3.1.134; 11.9.417.
29. Ibid. 7 3.288.
30.
Ibid 5.3.325.
31. Yaḥ phaliniryā aphalā apuṣpā yāśca puṣpinih, Rg. Veda 10.97.15; "Dva Sūparṇā sayujā sakhāyā simānaṁ vṛkṣam paripasvajate / Tayoranyaḥ pippalam svadattyanagnannanyo abhicākaśīti //", Rgveda i. 164-20; "Yas nin vṛkse madhvadaḥ suparna nivisante suvate cadhiviśve Tasyedāhuḥ pippalaṁ svadagre tannonnasadyaḥ pitaram na veda" // Ibid., .164 22; "Osadhayah ", Atharvaveda viii.7. Vedic Index I, p. 125
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