Jain Journal 1989 01

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

Page 29

JAIN JOURNAL
separate atom.188 These questions correspond to the sūtras of Tattvärthādhigama Sutra bhedasamghātebhyah utpadyante, bhedādanuh' (molecules are formed by division, combination and division-cum-combination ; atom is produced only by division).
"In more complex chemical reactions in which atoms are interchanged between molecules there are more quantities of energy to be considered. There are the energies which have to be supplied before the separate molecules can be dissociated and also the energies gained by formation of the new types of molecule. Even in a gaseous mixture there will be ample opportunity for interchange during collisions between molecules. The course of a given chemical reaction will depend on all these qualities of energy and upon the temperature, and also on the concentrations in which the various substances are present."189
This chemical behaviour as explained in the physical sciences is similar to the Jaina conception of transformation of atomic matter by the process of combination, of dissociation and of both combination and dissociation of atom.
Combination of Atoms (Paramānus)
According to the Samkhya, the process of combination of different elements of matter is explained in the following manner : there are stated to be two classes of aggregates, viz., (1) those of which the parts are closely united and fused, being lost in the whole (ayutasiddhā vavayah) and (2) mechanical aggregates or collocations of distinct and independent parts (yutasiddhāvā vayah samühah).
As an aggregate of the first kind a substance may be classified into two groups, viz., (1) the bhūtas and their 'isomeric' modifications (bhūtabheda and bhūta-vikara) and (2) chemical compounds (milita-dravya saṁhāta-bhūtartha). The second class of the substance may be sub-divided into two groups, viz (i) those compounds of atoms of the bhūta class, i.e. of different isomeric modifications of the same bhūtas, and (ii) those compounds of atoms of different bhūtas classes. In the former there takes place the contact between 'isomeric atoms (sajātiya-saṁyoga) while in
188 Atoms and the Universe, p. 132. 189 Ibid., pp. 132-133.