Reals on the Jaina Metaphysics

Author(s): Harisatya Bhattacharya
Publisher: Shatnidas Khetsy Charitable Trust Mumbai

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to hear it. It need scarcely be said that in this Nyaya doctrine of sound, we have a foreshadowing of the modern theory, which is thus shortly expressed:
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waves are
"As the result of the vibration of any portion of matter there will be, in general, waves produced in the surrounding medium. . . . These propagated through a medium from the vibrating body and in case they reach the ear of a hearing individual, a sound sensation is in general produced."
or
-"Hearing"-Dictionary of Philosophy and Psychology. The thinkers of the Nyaya and the Vaiśeșika schools maintained that this medium in which the waves afa are produced and through which they are propagated is a supersensuous material substance, Ākāśa. According to them sound is an attribute of this substance and from the phenomenon of sound, we infer the existence and reality of Akāśa.
THE JAINA CRITICISM OF THE NYAYA THEORY
The Jaina's do not seem to object to the wave-theory of Sound; but they contend that the phenomenon of Sound does not point to a supersensuous matter as its medium. According to them, Sound is not an attribute of a subtle matter but a modification of matter itself. It is पौद्गलिक, material i.e. a mode of matter. Ratnaprabha, the Jaina commentator brings in the analogy of odorous particles and criticises the Nyaya arguments in support of the contention that Sound is an attribute and not a mode of matter. He urges that the fact that Sound cannot be touched need not show that it is an attribute. Odorous particles also cannot be touched; but the fact is not denied that these particles are material modes. In the case of Sound too, its nontouchability only shows that the vibrating medium generating or propagating it, is very subtle. According to Ratnaprabha, the gross character of Sound is proved by the fact that like odorous substance, it is modified by the phenomena