Pushkarmuni Abhinandan Granth

Author(s): Devendramuni, A D Batra, Shreechand Surana
Publisher: Rajasthankesari Adhyatmayogi Upadhyay Shree Pushkar Muni Abhinandan Granth Prakashan Samiti

Page 440

A Survey of the plant and Animal Kingdoms as Revealed in Jaina Biology
BEE
appears to be made up of a bewildering variety of plants and animals,33 all quite different and each going its separate way at its own pace.
A close study of the world of living things as described in the Jaina Āgamas reveals that all organisms, whether plant or animal, have the same basic needs for survival, the same problems of getting food for energy, getting space to live, producing a new generation and so on.
In solving their problems, plants and animals have evolved into a tremendous number of different forms, each adapted to live in some particular sort of environment. Each has become adapted not only to the physical environment, but also to the biotic environment, all plants and animals living in the same general region. Living organisms are inter-related in two main ways, evolutionary descents and ecologically,38 one organism may provide food or shelter for another" or produce some substance harmful to the second.40
The Jainācāryas have tried to set up systems of classifications of plants and animals based on natural relationships, "1 putting into a single group those organisms which are closely related in their evolutionary origins.42 Since many of the structural similaritiese depend on evolutionary relations, classifications of organisms is similar in many respects to the one of the principles based on logical structural similarities. Many plants and animals fall into easily recognizable, natural groups; their classification presents no difficulty.
It is indicated in Jaina Biology that some organisms can synthesize their food, hence they may be called autotrophic (self-nourishing), e.g., green plants and purple bacteria (i.e., sulphur bacteria Saugaṁdhie) ; some organisms cannot synthesize their own food from inorganic materials therefore, they live either at expense of autotrophs or upon decaying matter.50 They may be called heterotrophs. All animals, fungi (panaga) and most bacteria are heterotrophs.
The study of the mode of nutrition of all organisms including plants, aquatic, terrestrial and aerial beings, and man, etc., as mentioned in the Jaina Āgamas show that plants and animals are not independent of other living things but are interacting and interdependent parts of larger units for survival. So their interaction and interdependence bring to light that ecosystem which is a natural unit of living and non-living parts that interact to produce a stable system in which the exchange of materials between living and non-living parts follows a circular path, e. g., aquatic organisms-fish, green plants, like sevāla, etc, and snai (bambaka) form a very small ecosystem in their habitat-water in a pond or lake.
The outline of ecosystem of Jaina Biology brings to light two basic concepts-the habitatb2 and the ecologic niche53 useful in describing the ecologic relations of organisms.
There take place the different types of interactions between species of plants and animals in several different ways due to their search for food, space or some other needs, e. g., the relationship of competition 54 or predatorism, commensalism55, and mutualism, parasitism57 between them.
The brief survey of the classifications of living things-- plants and animals, their distinc tions, mode of nutrition, ecosystem, habitat and ecologic niche, and types of interactions between species as found in Jaipa Biology gives a picture of the world of plants and animals, all related closely or distantly by evolutionary descent, bound and together in a variety of inter-specific interactions.
As regards the properties of green plants Jaina Biology reveals that the green plants are the primary producers of the living world. The properties of the pigment that gives them their green colour, i. e., cholorophyll, enable them to utilize the radiant energy of sunlight to synthesize energy-rich compounds, such as, liquid substance (sineha) from water and air.
Land plantso absorb water required for the photosynthestic process through their roots ; aquatic plants receive it by diffusion from the surrounding medium.
The reference to the taking of air6 by plants suggests that the cellular respiration of plants utilizes ucсhvasavāyu (oxygen ?) and releases niḥśvāsavāyu65 (carbon dioxide ?)