Jaina Biology

Author(s): J C Sikdar
Publisher: ZZ_Anusandhan

Page 13

3737T-810 • 134
other than the soul (ātmā), according to the Vedānta, is material (jada). Prāna is prior to the senses, for it regulates the development of the fertilized egg, "which would purify, if it were not living, and the senses with their apparatus originate subsequently from the fertilized agg.”+
Caraka45 explains vāyu as the impelling force, the primemover, which sets in motion the organism, the organs (including the senses and the mind), arranges the cells and tissues, unfolds or develops the foetal structure out of the fertilized ovum. According to Caraka and Suśruta, there are five chief vāyus with different functions for the maintenance of the animal life, viz. prāņa, udāna, samāna, vyāna and apāna, as mentioned in the Sārkhya Suśruta“7 describes prāņa as having its course in the mouth and function in deglutition, hiccough, respiration, etc., udāna in articulation and singing, samāna as digesting the food substance in the stomach in conjunction with the animal heat, vyāna as causing the flow of blood and sweat, and apāna with its seat in the intestinal region as throwing out the urinogenital secretions. 48
In the mediaeval philosophy 49 there is mention of forty nine vāyus among which there are ten chief Väyus, viz. (1) Prāņa, (2) Apäna, (3) Vyāna, (4) Samāna, (5) Udana, (6) Näga, (7) Kūrma, (8) Krkara or Krakaro, (9) Devadatta and (10) Dhananjaya. 50
Prāņa has the function in the ideo-motor verbal mechanism and vocal apparatus, the respiratory system, the muscles in coughing, singing, etc., apāna in ejecting the excretions and wastes, the urine, the faeces, the sperm and germ-cells etc., vyána in extension, contraction, and felxion of the muscles, tendons, and lingaments, the stored up energy of the muscles, udāna in maintaining the erect posture of the body, nāga in involuntary retching and vomitting, kūrma in the automatic movement of the eyelids, winking, etc., krkara in the appetites,