Jain Journal 1969 01

Author(s): Jain Bhawan Publication
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication

Page 45

JANUARY, 1969
139
The specific characters of the pudgalas (matter) are of two kinds, (1) those which are found in atoms as well as in aggregates, and
those which are found only in aggregates. Qualities of touch, taste, smell and colour come under the first head. The original pudgalas being homgeneous and indeterminate, all sensible qualities including the infra-sensible qualities of atoms, are the result of evolution (pariņāma). Every atom has thus evolved possess an infra-sensible (or potential) taste, smell and colour ; (one kind of each) and two infra-sensible tactile qualities e.g., a certain degree of roughness or smoothness (or dryness and moistness ?) and of heat or cold. Earth-atoms, ap-atoms etc. are but differentiations of the originally homogeneous pudgalas. The tactile qualities (khara, snigdha, usna, sita) appear first, but qualities of taste, smell and colour are involved in the possession of tactile qualities. An aggregate (skandha) whether binary, tertiary or of a higher order, possesses (in addition to touch, taste, smell and colour) the following physical characters : (1) sound, (2) atomic linking or mutual attraction and repulsion of atoms, (3) dimention, small or great, (4) figure, (5) divisibility, (6) opacity and casting of shadows, and (7) radiant heat and light.
Sensible qualities. Tactile qualities are of the following kinds -hardness or softness, heaviness or lightness (degrees of pressure), heat or cold, and roughness or smoothness (or dryness and viscosity ?). Of these, the atoms (anus) possess only temperature, and degrees of roughness or smoothness, but all the four kinds of tactile qualities in different degrees and combinations characterise aggregates of matter from the binary molecule upwards. The Jainas appear to have thought that gravity was developed in the molecules as the result of atomic linking. Simple tastes are of five kinds : bitter, pungent, astringent, acid and sweet. Salt is supposed by some to be resolvable into sweet while others consider it as a compound taste. Smells are either pleasant or unpleasant. Mallisena notes some elementary varieties of unpleasant smell. e.g., the smell of asafoetida, ordure, etc. The simple colours are five : black, blue, red, yellow and white. Sounds may be classed as loud, or faint, bass (thick) or treble (hollow), clang or articulate speech.
The most remarkable contribution of the Jainas to the atomic theory relates to their analysis of atomic linking, or the mutual attraction (or repulsion) of atoms, in the formation of molecules. The question is raised in Umasvati's Jaina Sūtras (circa A.D. 40) what constitutes atomic linking? Is mere contact (or juxtaposition) of atoms sufficient to cause linking ? No distinction is here made between the forces