Hindu Achievements in Exact Science: A Study in the History of Scientific Development c13.6

c13.6

(4) Accelerated motion of falling bodies: Prashastapada (fourth century, A.D.), the Doctor of Vaishesika philosophy, believed that in the case of a falling body there is the composition of gravity with *vega* (momentum) acting in the same direction from the second instant onwards. It is as if the two motions coalesced and resulted in one. "Here is a good foundation laid for the explanation of the accelerated motion of falling bodies; but Galileo's discovery was not anticipated as Galileo's observations and measurements of motion are wanting."⁵⁹