History of Chemistry in Ancient and Medieval India, Incorporating the History of Hindu Chemistry by Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray c39.s4.10

c39.s4.10

The question is,—how does one and the same *bhuta*, of the same formal structure, comprise different kinds of elements, with different atomic masses and different characteristic properties? And the answer is not far to seek. The properties of a thing are only the energies that are manifested in the particular collocations of three *gunas*,—Mass, Energy and Essence; and a *tri-tanmatric* or a *penta-tanmatric* atom, i.e., an atom, composed of three or of five kinds of *tanmatras*, may differ from another of the same class, in respect of the number of constituent *tanmatras* of any particular kind, as also of their collocation or grouping, and, therefore, in mass as well as in generic and specific characters.