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GERMS OF MODERN PHYSICS IN JAINA PHILOSOPHY CHANDANA ROY CHOWDHURY & R.L. BRAHMACHARY
It is known that relatively advanced concepts of science are sometimes evident in ancient Indian texts, but generally these did not develop any further. The atomic theory of Kanāda is such an example. In this paper we attempt to highlight certain aspects of Jaina philosophy revealing that the Jaina thinkers were concerned with such concepts.
The secret lying behind the evolution of matter attracted men since the early days of human civilization. They thought over it and tried to give explanation of the atomic nature of matter, and of the aggregation of the particles to form larger ones without doing any cumbersome experiment. Heisenberg,1 the founder of 'uncertainity principle' in modern physics, remarked that "some statements of ancient philosophy are rather near to those of modern science. This simply shows how far one can get by combining the ordinary experience of nature that we have, without performing experiments, with the untiring effort to get some logical order into this experience, based only on a purely theoretical exercise."
Atomic theory is one of the remarkable physical concepts of the Indian Philosophers. The atomic theory of the Jainas (rather similar to that of Kanāda) was first revealed in the writings of Kundakunda, one of the earlier Jaina philosophers of the Digambara Sect, who appeared during the first century A.D. and explained the theories of Tattva and Astikāya in his text entitled "the Pravacanasāra”. Umāsvati, a pupil of Kundakunda, wrote Tattvārthādhigama-sūtra in Sanskrit, in which he discussed the atomic theory and the theory of chemical combination in detail. This book was recognised by both the Digambaras and the Svetambaras, and was the most authoritative text for the atomic theory of the Jainas.2
In Jaina philosophy, the world is thought to be without beginning or end.2 In other words, this philosophy does not require a creatorgod and as such has an agnostic or atheistic learning. It is composed of two principal objects: jiva (living) and ajiva (non-living). The latter comprises dharma (positive force), adharma (negative force), ākāśa
1. W. Heisenberg, Physics and Philosophy, London, 1959, p. 65.
2.
H. Jacobi. Eine Jaina Dogmatik. Leipzig, 1906.
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