The universal Sanskrit dichotomy seems to be moving/nonmoving (carācara, sthāvara-jaṅgama, etc). In astrological texts one sometimes sees a division into mineral, vegetable and animal (dhātu, mūla, jīva); but I’m not sure if that division is indigenous.

Martin Gansten

HI

A colleague has asked me the following question, and I thought some on this list might readily know the answer:

'Do you have in Sanskrit a conceptual dichotomy that corresponds to living/non-living or animate/inanimate?
What exactly does the taxonomy look like? (is the opposition something like human vs. animals vs plants vs material objects, or human and animal vs. plants vs material objects or human and animal and plant vs. material objects, or otherwise?)'

Cheers
James Hartzell
Guest Researcher
CIMeC, Center for Mind/Brain Sciences
University of Trento
Mattarello, TN, Italy