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Bacteria, Aigae and Fungi as Found in the Jaina Literature
93
souls with it, when one soul is börn, there takes place thc birth of infinite souls there.47
Estimates of the size of Nigodas have been made in several different ways : The size of the body of a fine bodied and non-developable nigodaorganism in the third instant after it las taken birth in its nucleus (yoni) is an innumerable part of one (cubic) finger (anguli). This is the minimum (bodily size). The maximum size is found in the fish born in the last and the biggest ocean called Svayambhuramaņa of the world. 48
The body of fine bodicd non-developable Nigoda in a plant body is oblong in the first instant of its birth, square in the second instant, and in the third instant it contracts and become circular (or spherical). In the circular state the dimeusions of its body are at the ininimum, after the third instant it begins to grow, 49 i. e, it varies widely in size.
The Jaina view about the size of Nigoda finds support in modern Bio. logy to some extent in the following manger : Viruses vary widely in size: one of the largest-The psittacosis virus, the cause of a disease transmitted by parrots and other birds is about 275 millimicrons in diameter, and one of the smallest, the one causing foot and mouth disease of cattle is 10 mllimicrons in diameter. The electron microscope reveals that some viruses are spherical and others are rod-shaped,50
By the operation of the common (Sadhārana) body making karma the body of Nigodas become group-souled. They are gross and fine 51 That is to say, their bodies become group-souled like huge colonies of viruses of modern Biology,62 Although individual virus particles cannot be seen, virus infected cells frequently contain, inclusion bodies" (i.e, group-souled bodies of Nigodas), which are visible with ordinary microscope. These are believed to be huge colonies of viruses 08
47 Jatthekka marai jivo tattha du maranam have anamtānari
Vakkamai jattha ekko vakkamanam tattha añantānam', Gs., vi., 93. 48 "Suhamanigoda apajjayassa jādassa tadiyasamayamhi
angula asarnkhägarn ahannamukkassayarn macche" Gommalasära, v. 94. 49 Ibid, (Comm.), p. 70 50 Biolog p. 139. 51 "Sähāranodayena nigodasarira havatiti samanna I
Te puna duvihä jivā bādarasu humátti vinneya II',
Gommatasära Jivakända, v, 191, p. 118. 52 "Biology, p. 139.
Ni Niyatām, gām=bhumin, kşetrarh' niväsamanantānantajīvānāṁ dadátīti nigodam, That which is the abode of infinite
souls (viruses) in huge colonies is called nigoda in Jaina Biology, GS. p. 118 53 Biology, p. 139
