History of Chemistry in Ancient and Medieval India, Incorporating the History of Hindu Chemistry by Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray c40.s3.11

c40.s3.11

The *sukshma bhutas* are forms of homogeneous and continuous matter, without any atomicity of structure; the *mahabhutas* are composite; but even these are regarded as continuous, and without any atomic structure. The Vedanta speaks of *anu* (*paramanu*) not as an ultimate indivisible discrete constituent of matter, but as the smallest conceivable quantum or measure of matter. In the Samkhya doctrine, the atomic structure is ordinarily accepted. The *gunas* are supposed to be bounded and indefinitely small in size (except the *gunas* giving rise to *akasa* and *manas* which are unlimited), and hence the *tanmatras* and *paramanus* must be conceived to have a discrete structure