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THE JAINA GAZETTE
It was in this connection that I contributed an article in the columns of Jain Jagat dated the 16th Sept. 29. At the request of one of the Editors of Jain Gazette I am translating into English language the same views of mine on the subject of reproduction in lower creatures. I have used this term "lower creatures for all beings except the five-sensed ones. The mode of reproduction in lower creatures has been termed 'Sammurchhan mode of reproduction," the meaning of the word "Sammurchhan" being some what mysterious. The Jain Pundits explain it as spontaneous generation as if out of nothing. This explanation is untenable because something coming out of nothing is an absurdity recognised by all Jain thinkers. Again the Sammurchhan mode of reproduction has been sub-divided into a number of classes such as sprouting of plants, reproduction from sweat, spittle etc. In other words it would mean that something living is generated out of non-living. Jain metaphysics recognises life and matter as two separate entities and it would be a glaring breach of principles to suppose life corning from non-life. Life from life is the cry of the modern biologist and appears to be a well-established fact. The experiments by zoologists have proved beyond the shadow of a doubt that even in the lowest strata of organic evolution there is a sexual differentiation and in some cases there are separate organs of reproduction. But in one important respect the mode of reproduction differs with what is usually met with in higher animals possessing all the five senses. In the higher animals the sperm of the male and the ovum of the female unite within the female genital apparatus for the sperm is directly discharged there whereas in the lower order it is not so. The male and the female conjugate, thereby get stimulated and then leave behind their sacred libations in the medium in which they move. It is here outside the female body that the male gamete fertilizes the ovum and it is only after fertilization that the development of life begins. This fact has been demonstrated not only in the case of the lowest beings but the scientists have gone so far as to indicate sex differentiation even in certain species of lifeless crystals. Thus writes Dr. Manotlov-a Russian scientist, Shree Sudharmaswami Gyanbhandar-Umara, Surat
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