History of Chemistry in Ancient and Medieval India, Incorporating the History of Hindu Chemistry by Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray c40.s3.15

c40.s3.15

(2) Change due to combination with other substances Such combination may produce (i) a compound substance possessing like qualities with the constituents, or (ii) unlike compounds with new qualities, "heteropathic effects". Any new quality evolved through (chemical) combination is called *samhata bhuta-dharma*, e.g., the intoxicating power of the fermented rice and molasses, which does not exist in the ingredients taken separately. This *sambhuyakriya* corresponds to chemical combination, and the Vedantists, like the Samkhyas, explain this only as the evolution of the latent energy in a new collocation. But, unlike the mediaeval Samkhya, the Vedanta freely recognises the combination of heterogeneous *bhutas*. Thus, *earth*, *ap*, *tejas* and *vayu* freely combine in different proportions and groupings to produce the variety of substances in the world. For example, the animal organism is a compound of all the five *bhutas*. It is not merely the concomitant or efficient causes that may be heterogeneous to the material cause, as the Naiyayikas contend, but several heterogeneous substances (*bhutas*) may unite as 'material causes' to produce a new substance.