Microcosmology Atom in Jain Philosophy and Modern Science

Author(s): Jethalal S Zaveri, Mahendramuni
Publisher: Jain Vishva Bharati

Page 175

A Critique
depends upon the energy of light corpuscles reflected or transmitted by the object. That is, it is dependent on some peculiar property inherent in the material of the object and therefore, the quality possessed by the material of the object is the deciding factor in the perception of colour. It should be noted that the perceived colour (CP) is not identical with Cp because Cp is a function of Co, L and S.
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We may summarise the above discussion thus:
The difference in emission and absorption of light by. different coloured surfaces is the effect of some innate quality in the material object and light acts merely as a medium for the perception of the colour and not for its existence.
From the above discussion we can get a fair idea of the characteristic quality called colour which, according to the Jain view, is an inseparable innate property of all material objects.
COLOUR IN COSMOLOGICAL STUDIES
Colour, one of the four inherent qualities of matter has been a boon to inquisitive mankind in general and scientists in particular. More than that, it has been the cause of many spectacular advances in some of the sciences (and even arts).. Astronomers in their quest of knowledge of the universe are able to probe and pry into the macrocosmos and see millions of distant stars and galaxies which are thousands of millions light years away. With the growth of knowledge from their insights, astronomy developed a whole new kind of study called Astrophysics. The science of spectroscopy became an indispensable branch of astronomy. On its findings are based all the modern theories about the universe.
The secrets of the universe are written largely in code language of light and can be known by deciphering light itself. Everybody knows that white sunlight bent apart by a prism1 becomes a rainbow of all the colours. This is called a spectrum. It was found many years ago that the sun's spectrum was not a perfect rainbow but slashed by many dark lines, but noblody knew
1. The prism is now replaced by a more efficient light-splitting instrument viz. diffraction gratings of lines closely ruled on glass.