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The Concept of Matter in Jaina Philosophy
harmonic motion, may be a composite one in which several periods are present simultaneously. In the presence of a single period the motion is called simple, harmonic motion. Besides, there are stated to be two kinds of motion, viz. translatory and rotatory or both simultaneously. Translatory motion is subdivided into rectilinear and curvilinear motions. Translatory motion takes place in a body when it moves in such a manner that there occurs also such identical motion in its constituent parts that "the line joining any two points of the body always moves parallel to itself when body is in motion. That is, the distance traversed by one point is equal and parallel to the distance traversed by the other point according to the rule that all the points in the body have identical straight line motion, e. g. vertical motion of rain drop or stones from a height, the running of the train on straight rails, the motion of a bullet from a gun." This translatory motion of the physical sciences compares well with the anuśreņi gati of Jaina Metaphysics.
The motion of translation taking place along curved line in the way that any line in the body remains parallel to itself is known to be a curvilincar motion, e. g. the motion of an automobile or of a train rounding a curve. This curvilinear motion corresponds to the viśrenigati of Jaina Philosophy.. Rotatory motion takes place when a body turns about a fixed point of axis, e. g. the whirling motion of a stone tied at the end of a string held in the hand. The motion which involves both rotation and translation of an object is called a complex motion resulting from the combination of rotation and translation, e. g. the rolling down of a banking aeroplane in its curved flight in the sky. The vigrahagati and kuţilagati of Jaina Metaphysics may be compared to the rotatory and complex motions of the physical sciences respectively.
It can be said from the above analysis of motion that in both Jaina Philosophy and modern physics the motion of a body is specified by its successive positions in time. Both of them study motions taking place along a straight line as well
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