Studies in the Bhagavati Sutra

Author(s): J C Sikdar
Publisher: Research Institute of Prakrit Jainology & Ahimsa Mujjaffarpur

Page 380

Sec. III] STUDIES IN THE BHAGAWATÍ SUTRA 355 beings (i.e. bacteria existing in roots) which are connected with the earth-bodied beings, for that reason they absorb food-matter from the soil and assimilate it.
Likewise the stems are touched (pervaded) by the stembeings and they are connected with the root beings; the seeds also are pervaded by the seed-beings and connected with the fruit beings; so they absorb and assimilate their food-matter.1
This process of absorption and assimilation of food-matter by the plants fully agrees with the law of osmosis of Botany.
This theory of osmosis explains that the plant absorbs nitrogen, pliospherous, potash, etc., by its auxiliary roots (not by the tape root) from the earth in the form of liquid substance and draws it up by the root pressure to the leaf where it gets cooked with the help of the heat of sunshine. Thence it passes in a transformed condition to every part of the plant, causing it to grow and to bear flowers and fruits.
Classification of Plants
In the BhS the plants have been classified into three natural orders on the basis of the number of beings existing in their bodies and the span of their life, viz. Sankhyāta jivita (the plant in which there are numerable beings), Asavikhyāta jīvita (the plant in which there are innumerable beings), and Anantajżvita (the tree in which there are infinite beings).
Under the first order of this classification come the following species of Savrchyātajivita plants, viz. Tāla (palmtree), Tamāla (dark-barked xanthochymus pictorius), Takkali (Pimenta acris ?), Tetali (Temarind tree), upto Nälieri (cocoanut tree), while under the second one there are two kinds of plants, viz. Ekāsthikā (one-seeded) and Bahubijakā (many-seeded), e. g. Nimba (neem tree), Amra (mango tree), Jambu (the rose apple), etc., are stated to be one-seeded and Asthika (guava), Tinduka (Diospyros embryopteris), Dādima (Pomegranate), etc., fall under the second category of Bahubījaka."
1 Bhs, 7, 3, 276.
? 16, 8, 3, 324.