History and Doctrines of the Ajivikas: A Vanished Indian Religion c24.s2.9

c24.s2.9

The Vaiśeṣika atoms have specific qualities according to the elemental categories to which they belong,² and in this respect they resemble those of the Ājīvikas. The Vaiśeṣika classification is more complete and thorough than that of the Ājīvikas. The attributes of the four material elements are distributed as follows : earth possesses odour, savour, colour, touch or temperature, gravity, velocity, and fluidity; in water odour is replaced by viscosity; fire has temperature, colour, fluidity, and velocity; and air, touch and velocity.³ This classification is much more detailed than that of the Ājīvikas; but it is to be noted that *Nīlakēci*'s version of the Ājīvika atomic theory states that "earth has all sense qualities except sound" ⁴; this gives promise of a detailed classification such as that of the Vaiśeṣika, with an immaterial *ākāśa* to be the vehicle of sound, but the promise is not fulfilled, and the remaining elements are in no way related to the senses. Vaiśeṣika agrees with Ājīvikism in stating that the qualities of the atoms can only be discerned in aggregates; in the isolated atom qualities and characteristics are potential, only emerging on juxtaposition.⁵