Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v2.c44.3

v2.c44.3

The concept of five elements as the basis of the material universe occurs in the Āraṇyakas and the Upaniṣads (c. eighth century BC), and thus antedates the Greek theory of Empedocles (c. fifth century BC). Chāndogya Upaniṣad mentioned seed which gradually evolved into grosser material stuff. The matter was created from energy. The Vedānta philosophy distinguished between two kinds of ākāśa : purāṇaṃ kham or kāraṇākāśa, the motionless, primordial matter-rudiment, and kāryākāśa, materialisation from non-atomic ākāśa. The twofold aspect of *ākāśa*, non-material and material, related to each other as cause and effect was a very significant concept in the Indian Philosophy. (Seal, 1958:121)