Book Title: Jaina Psychology
Author(s): Mohanlal Mehta
Publisher: Sohanlal Jain Dharm Pracharak Samiti Amrutsar

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Page 151
________________ 134 JAINA PSYCHOLOGY those who have an exceedingly strong desire for an intercourse. It is directed towards both the male and the female. It is just like the desire for something sour and sweet produced by the simultaneous rise of phlegm and bile. It is further compared to the burning of a town. As a burning town is not extinguished easily so also the sexual drive of a 'napumsaka' lasts long and is not satisfied easily.1 This is in brief the nature of sex-drive described by the Jaina thinkers. They use the term 'veda' for expressing the meaning of sexual urge. The three vedas are of the nature of the three species of sex. The purușa-veda corresponds to the male-sex. Through it the desire for sexual enjoyment with the female is awakened. The stri-veda corresponds to the female-sex. It gives rise to the urge for intercourse with the male. The napumsaka-veda corresponds to the third sex. It is exceedingly strong, since it produces the desire for intercourse with the male and the female both. To demonstrate the varying degrees of the expression of the intensity of the three drives the Jaina thinkers have given three interesting illustrations, viz., that of straw-fire for the male sex, that of the burning of dung for the female sex, and that of the burning of a town for the dual sex. As regards the expression of the dual sex, we do not have any remarkable evidence in modern psychology. Regarding the expression of the first two drives, we propose to record an experimental evidence that establishes more or less the same truth advocated by the Jaina philosophers. William McDougall records that there is undoubtedly some considerable difference between the male and the female of most species, as regards not only the receptive but also the executive side of the instinct. The male is more aggressive and active and usually takes the initiative. We have seen how among the pigeons these peculiarities of behaviour are the only clear recognition marks of sex; and how, among birds endowed with special sex-characters, such as plumes, and special colours and patterns, the male actively displays these before the female. The same is true in a less degree of the mammals. The male, in subduing the female to his "will," makes use of his voice and a display of his size, strength, and agility. The 1 Yadvaśāt striyāk puruṣam pratyabhilaṣo bhavati, yatha pittavaśāt madhuradravyam prati, sa phumphumādāhasamaḥ strivedodayaḥ.. Karma-grantha, I, p. 38.

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