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JAINA CONCEPTION OF SPACE AND TIME
Nagin J. Shah
SECTION 1: SPACE 1. Introductory
Regarding primary material elements (mahābhūtas), there were two old views. One view recognised five mahābhūtas and the other recognised four mahābhūtas.
The five mahābhūtas recognized by the first view were ākāśa, vāyu, tejas, āp and prthví. They possessed the five special qualities akāśa śabda, vāyu sparsa, tejas rūpa, āp rasa and pşthvi gandha. Those who followed this view counted ākāśa as a mahābhūta with a special quality sabda. The Sānkhya-Yoga, the Nyāya-Vaišesika and the Prabhākara mimāṁsā accepted this view.
The old form of this view of five mahābhūtas was that the external material world, as also the human body, is composed of the five mahābhūtas. The Sänkhya adopted this old form of the view. That is, according to the Sānkhya the five mahābhūtas are the material causes of all the material effect-substances (bhautila kārya-dravyas). So, for the Sānkhya, akāśa, along with other four mahābhūtas, is the material cause of material effect-substan'es. The Vaiseșika differs from the Sankhya. The Vaiseșika mainains
Presented in “Seminar on Jaina Logic and Philosophy,” (Poona University 1975) Published in “Sambodhi" (Vol 6, Nos. 3-4).
