Dr. Samani Mangal Pragya
Living beings possessed of body capable of undertaking locomotion. In Ācārāṅga, there is a mention of eight kinds of mobile beings such as.[1]
| 1 | Anḍaja | Oviparous jiva (living being) e.g., peacock etc. |
| 2 | Potaja | The vertebrate beings whose young ones are born uncovered (i.e., without placenta), e.g. bat |
| 3 | Jarāyuja | Viviparous- A type of birth through Garbha (birth through womb), in which the living beings which are born with chorion made of blood and flesh (placenta) around the body; like cow, buffalo etc. |
| 4 | Rasaja | Very subtle organisms or living beings, which have the shape of worms and are born in (putrid) liquid foods like curd, buttermilk etc. |
| 5 | Samsvedaja | The jīva (insects) which are born out of sweat;e.g. bed-bug, louse etc. |
| 6 | Sammurcchima | Jiva (living being) born through agglutination.That jīva which is not born through impregnation; and which, by appropriating the Pudgalas (material aggregates) of the place (substratum) of birth, from all around its body (samantataḥ), builds the organs of its body (murcchana). |
| 7 | Udbhijja | A class of jīva (living being) which takes birthunderneath the earth; e.g. the insects such as moth etc. |
| 8 | Upapāta | The birth of the jīva as a Deva (celestial being)and Nāraka (infernal being), which takes place in a flower-bed and a pitcher-shaped birthplace respectively and develop within a very short span of time. |
These eight types of mobile beings are derived from the following three types of beings namely
- sammūrcchanaja - born of agglutination (invertebrate)
- garbhaja - born of womb (vertebrate) and
- aupapātika - born spontaneously (and accomplished). These three divisions are made on the basis of their birth that means how they take birth. Immobile beings are born through agglutination only whereas mobile beings are born of agglutination, womb or spontaneously.
Agglutination, means formation of body by collecting material from anywhere, without being born in the womb. Beings born through this process are called Sammūrcchanaja. Among those born of agglutination are those who are born out of fluid, sweat, and by sprouting from the earth. Beings born out of egg (oviparous), as foetus, and as foetus with amnion are called born in placenta (viviparous) or Garbhaja (vertebrate). Those born with a protean body or the beings that have protean body are called spontaneously born. They are the denizens of heaven and hell.[2]
Definition of Trasa (Mobile beings)
There is a mention of mobile living beings in Ācārāṅga but its definition is not available there. The definition of trasa is available in Daśavaikālika sūtra.
....jesiṃ kesiñci pāṇāṇāṃ abhikkantaṃ, paḍikkantaṃ, sañkuciyaṃ, pasāriyaṃ, ruyaṃ, bhantaṃ, tasiyaṃ palāyiyaṃ āgai-gaivinnāya....[3]
Those living beings, which do actions like moving forth and back, contracting, spreading, making sounds, moving here and there, fearing, running and aware of coming and going are called as trasa. According to Uttarādhyayana Vṛtii, those who are in grief due to heat etc. and try to move towards the shade etc. to get relieved from pain, are called as trasa beings (two to five sensed beings).[4]
