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LXXXII
PRAVACANASĀRA,
colour, one smell and two touches or contacts. With this description of paramāņu, it is possible to attempt a proof of atomic existence as partly done by Umāsvāti and others. It is clear from this description that the primary atom is not an ideal postulate like the geometrical point; it is essentially matter possessing the characteristics of matter or pudgala. There is this fundamental difference between Jaina primary atoms and the Vais'eșika atoms: the former are of one kind, but the latter are of four kinds corresponding to four elements: earth, water, fire and wind. Attempts to conceive a visible entity like a mote in the sun-beam.compared with the tertiary atom are seen
in Nyāya-Vais'eșika texts, but they are conspicuously absent in Jaina works. ; The Jainas and Vais'esikas agree in holding that an atom is beyond senseperception.
KUNDAKUNDA ON ATOMIC INTERLINKING.-About atomic combination into aggregates Kundakunda gives the Jaina theory which is unique by itself. The primary atoms, we have seen, have taste, smell, colour and touch. It is this touch or contact whether cohesive or arid (snigdha or rūksa) that brings about the atomic combination. There are points or degrees (ams'a) of cohesiveness or aridness which decide the compatibility or otherwise of two combining parties. A primary atom whether cohesive or arid forms an aggregate with another whether arid or cohesive on certain conditions: between the two combining parties there must be a difference of two degrees in the odd or even series of degrees of aridness or cohesiveness; but a paramānu possessing only one degree of aridnesss or cohesiveness, cannot be a party to the formation of an aggregate. In the aggregate the one of higher degree absorbs the one of a lower degree. Thus the atomic aggregation is an automatic function resulting from the essential nature of paramāņus. 'A crude theory', · Dr. B.N. Seal remarks on this atomic interlinking, 'this, of chemical combina
tion, very crude but immensively suggestive, and possibly based on the observed electrification of smooth and rough surfaces as the result of rubbing'.
Che Nyāya-Vais'esika position is different. according to which it is the will of 'God, the creating agency, that produces motion in the atoms; and so they
the gatha 85 has something like the Vais'eșika doctrine in viow, but the use of the word chatu, for elements, is moro a Buddhistic technical term than the Vais'eşiks one; Sec also Niyanasüra, 25. There are five kinds of tastes: bitter, sonr, pungent, sweet and astringent, of which a paramūnu has only one. There are five colonrs: black, blue, yellow, white and red, of which a primary atom bas only one. Smell is of two kinds: agreeable and disagecablo; a paramāņu can bo ono or the other. Thero are eight kinds of contacts: soft and hard (mrdu and Kathina ), heavy and light (gurt and laglu ), cold and hot (s'ila and usna ) and cohesive and arid (snigdha and rulsa, also rendered as smooth and rough ). The first two pairs are not possible in the case of a paramūņu; of the remaining it will base two contacts, and the pairs might be arranged accordingly; a paramīņu can be cold and arid, cold and cohesire, hot and arid, and hot and cohesive ( Seo T'attrarthasilra V, 23, with Bhūpja and Sarrärthasiddhi, and also Pancasilaya 84-8). The possibility of change by increase or decrease in tho degrees of aridness or cohesi. veness in an atom owing to intornal and external causes () is aleo accepted (Seo Gim. matasära, Jirakānda gūthū 618). The Positirc Sciences of the Ancient Hindus p. 97.
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