Jethalal S. Zaveri
Prof. Muni Mahendra Kumar
The treatise in this scripture is quite different from the others. Here the dissertation is rather of a specialized nature. It deals with twenty-three characteristic features of living organisms, describing the association of each feature with different classes of living organisms. The classification itself is conventional and the organisms are dealt with in an ascending order of sequence, as in Uttarādhyayana Sūtra, i.e., starting with the earth-bodied organisms and ending with devas. The sūtras are in prose and in the form of question-answer—Gautama, the chief disciple and gaṇadhara being the querist and Bhagavān Mahāvīra himself giving the answers.
The twenty-three characteristic features are:[1]
| 1. Number and types of Bodies | —śarīra |
| 2. Extension in space | —avagāhanā |
| 3. Physical structure | —saṃhanana |
| 4. Configuration | —saṃsthāna |
| 5. Passions | —kaṣāya |
| 6. Unlearned Instincts | —saṃjñā |
| 7. Aural colouration | —leśyā |
| 8. Number of sense-organs | —indriya |
| 9. Expansion of soul-units (beyond the body) | —samudghāta |
| 10. Possession of brain | —saṃjñī-asaṃjñī |
| 11. Sex | —veda |
| 12. Number of bio-potentials | - paryāpti |
| 13. World-view | —dṛṣti |
| 14. Intuition | —darśana |
| 15. Knowledge | —jñāna |
| 16. Activity (of Body, Speech, Mind) | —yoga |
| 17. Activity of Consciousness | —upayoga |
| 18. Appropriation of material objects | —āhāra |
| 19. Metempsychosis | —upapāta |
| 20. Life-span | —stithi |
| 21. Expansion of soul-units out-side the body | —Māraṇāntika samudghāta |
| 22. Departure from past life | —cyavana |
| 23. Transmigration (to and from) | —gatyāgata |
The Jīvājīvābhigam Sūtra disseminates detailed information about the association of each class of living organisms with the above twenty-three characteristic features.
