Ancient Indian Education (Brahmanical and Buddhist) c9.s1.17

c9.s1.17

The scientific spirit of the Vedic age finds expression in the recognition of an immutable cosmic order or the Laws of Nature for which there are employed such terms as *Dhātā*, *Satya*, *Ṛita*, *Dharma*, and *Vrata*. Dhātā refers to what has been, as an accomplished fact, revealing the law of happenings, like the tree growing from a seed, of the sun rising in the east, of Agni always consuming objects thrown into it. Similarly, *Satya* refers to what is (*Sata*) and to what is contributory (*Hita*) to what is happening, the law, for example, by which the sun still rises in the east, fire gives heat, and a plant grows out of a seed. *Dharma* is that which holds in the midst of change.