Concept of Matter in Jaina Philosophy

SR No.: 001663
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: J C Sikdar
Publisher: P V Research Institute Varanasi
Publication Year: 1987
Total Pages: 412
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, Philosophy, & Physics
File Size: 23 MB

Page 338

Transformation of Matter
the potter's furnace, it becomes red all over, both inside and outside. There is a controversy on this simple phenomenon leading to the question whether does the pot undergo a complete disintegration when acted upon by the fire in the furnace under the influence of fire or does it remain intact in its structure. Does the change of colour from black to red take place in the atoms or in the body with its structure intact? The Vaiseṣika maintains that when the unbacked earthen pot, etc., are brought into contact with fire, motion is produced in the atoms of it by the forcible striking (abhighāta) or pressure (nodana) of fire. Disjunction is produced by this motion in the constituent of the pot and it is followed by the destruction of the conjunction existing between the various constituents of the composite and finally their splitting up into atoms. After the complete disintegration of the body of the unbaked earthen pot a second impact of fire-particles upon the isolated atoms (pflu-anus) destroys their original attributes like colour, etc., and coverts them to their original conditions. A third impact of fire, which occurs, generates fresh attributes, 1. e. red colour, etc., in these atoms in place of the old ones. Thereafter, a reverse motion is generated by the influence of the unseen force of the individual selves in the liberated and homogeneously transformed atoms which combine together by twos. The combination of the red dyads results in the corresponding triads, thus the process leads to the production of the red pot of the original magnitude and shape.1
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The merit of the theory of Pilupakaja (chemical action in isolated atoms) is that it follows strictly the dictum "The quality in the effect is necessarily the outcome of the correspon
1. Āpake niḥkṣiptasya ghaṭāderāmadravyasya vahninā nodanādabhighātādvā tadārambhakeṣu paramāņuṣu dravyarambhakasamyogavirodhivibhāgenārambhakasaṁyoganāśe dravyanāśāvaśyambhāvāt dṛśyate hi sthālyāmāhitānāṁ, etc. VSU,, 7. 1. 6: PPBhā., Pākaja prakaranaṁ.