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80
Scientific Vision of Lord Mahāvīra
atom cannot produce sound by itself. It is of two kinds (in respect of genesis)-(i) Natural or spontaneous, e.g. thunder and that produced by conscious effort. The latter is again of two kinds--(i) Lingual or Articulate. Articulate means which is made up of alphabetical composition, and (ii) Nonlingual or inarticulate i.e. sound produced by sub-human animals.
Non-lingual sound is produced with the help of instruments and is of four kinds:
(a) tata—sound produced by percussion instruments like drum. (b) vitata--sound produced by stringed instruments like violin. (c) ghana--sound produced by bells, etc. (d) susira-sound produced by flute, and such other wind instruments.
The classification of sound can be tabulated as under:
Sound
Natural (vaisrasika)
Produced by living beings (prāyogika)
Lingual (bhaşatmaka)
Non-lingual (abhāsātmaka)
Articulate (aksarātmaka)
Inarticulate (anakṣarātmaka)
Percussion-instrument
(tata)
Stringed-instrument
(vitata)
Bells etc. (ghana)
Wind instrument
(sušira)