A Concise History of Science in India c13.s8.2

c13.s8.2

Among the three, it is *ākāśa* alone which has a special quality like the first four, and its specific quality is sound. This specific quality, however, exists only in some part of the ubiquitous or all-pervading *ākāśa* at a particular instant, while the specific qualities of the other four substances respectively pervade in them. Another aspect of *ākāśa* is that though non-material, it is recognized as one of the five elements, and thus is capable of playing its role in the formation of gross bodies. All corporeal substances are held to be in direct contact with *ākāśa* which is a vast expanse or an infinite continuum. The auditory organ is also regarded as of *ākāśa* itself as a logical necessity. For, if the auditory organ is to experience the quality of sound of which *ākāśa* is the substratum, the organ itself must be in the very nature of *ākāśa*.