History of Chemistry in Ancient and Medieval India, Incorporating the History of Hindu Chemistry by Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray c40.s5.3

c40.s5.3

The Nyaya conceives atomic magnitudes as *parimandalya*, a term indicating a spherical shape. To conceive position in Space, Vachaspati takes three axes, one proceeding from the point of sunrise in the horizon to that of sunset on any particular day (roughly speaking from the East to the West); a second bisecting this line at right angles on the horizontal plane (roughly speaking from the North to the South); and the third proceeding from the point of their section up to the meridian position of the sun on that day (roughly speaking, up and down). The position of any point in Space, relatively to another point, may now be given by measuring distances along these three directions, *i.e.*, by arranging in a numerical series the intervening points of contact, the less magnitude or distance being that which comes earlier in this series, and the greater that which comes later. The position of any single atom in space with reference to another may be indicated in this way with reference to the three axes. But this gives only a geometrical analysis of the conception of three-dimensioned Space, though it must be admitted in all fairness that by dint of clear thinking it anticipates in a rudimentary manner not only the foundation of solid (co-ordinate) geometry, but also of the geometry of position, and especially the conception of Space as a manifold, which alone can serve as the basis of a generalisation comprehending all different kinds of geometry, Euclidean and non-Euclidean.