The Positive Sciences of the Ancient Hindus c4.s1.t2.29

c4.s1.t2.29

The “five Bhútas” stand for a classification of substances on the basis of their generic properties, resulting, as the Sánkhyas hold, from the structural type of their constituent atoms—a classification more physical than chemical, or properly speaking chemico-physical, unlike the purely chemical classification of the so-called elements of modern chemistry. A Paramánu, again, is a type of atoms corresponding to each Bhúta class, and indeed one and the same kind of Paramánu may comprehend atoms of different masses, if only these should agree in their structural type.