The Positive Sciences of the Ancient Hindus c4.s1.t2.70

c4.s1.t2.70

But in the original Sáṅkhya-Pátañjala it appears that the production of a new substance by mixture of unlike Bhútas (विजातीयसंयोग) was conceded as freely as in the Vedánta, and was conceived as in nowise differing from the formation of a compound of atoms of the same Bhúta class. The Sáṅkhya analysis of all change into transformations of Energy due to collocations of unchanging Gunas, in other words the prevailing chemico-physical (or physical) point of view, naturally recognises no distinction between collocations of "isomeric" and those of heterogeneous atoms. At bottom they are all collocations of the Gunas. Even Vijñána-bhikshu, who, as one of the latest expounders of the Sáṅkhya-Pátañjala, has been most affected by the Vaiseshika prejudice against "poly-Bhautic" combination (विजातीयसंयोग), urges that the qualities of a compound substance are not necessarily the result of similar qualities in the component elements. (सजातीयकारणगुणस्यैव कार्य्यगुणारम्भकता इति तु तेषां (तार्किकाणां) अपि न नियमः।) Elsewhere he explains that, so far from the vital activity being independent, it is originated and maintained by the combined operation or fusion of the different sensory and motor reflexes of the living organism, and notes that the united operation of mixed (or miscellaneous) causes, where there is a fit collocation of matter, offers no difficulty to a follower of the Sáṅkhya-Pátañjala. (जातिसाङ्कर्य्यस्य अस्माकमदोषत्वात्, सामग्रोसमवधाने सति अनेकैरपि इन्द्रियैः एकदा एकवृत्त्युत्पादने बाधकं नास्ति—प्रवचनभाष्य, Sutra 32, Chap. II.) In the middle of the ninth century we find Váchaspati instancing some "heterogenic" or "poly-Bhautic" compositions as typical examples of evolutionary change (परिणाम) and unhesitatingly accepting the substantive character of the products. In the Kaumudi he describes the various acids and juices of fruits as modifications of the same original water in the presence of different kinds of earthy accretions. The process is peculiar. The water-particle (or atom) serves as a radicle or centre of a system, and the different kinds of the Earth-Bhúta centering round this as a nucleus become the seat of forces, which bring in the development of new energies (and new qualities, *e.g.* tastes) in the water. (यथा वारिदविमुक्तं उदकं एकरसमपि तत्तद्भूतविकारान् आसाद्य नारिकेल-ताली-बिल्व-कपित्थादि-रसताया परिणामात् मधुराम्ललवणतिक्तकटुकषायतया विकल्पते। इति रैकैकगुणसम्भवात् प्रधानगुणं आश्रित्य अप्रधानगुणाः परिणामभेदान् प्रवर्तयन्ति।—कौमुदी on Káriká 16.) Váchaspati also points out that different substances may be transformed into one and the same substance (*e.g.* the production of salt by the cow, the horse, the buffalo, and the elephant, thrown into the salt-factory of Sambara in Rajputana, or of the flame of a candle by the combination of wick, oil, and fire). (परिणामैकत्वं बहूनामपि एकः परिणामः दृष्टः। तद्यथा गवाश्व-महिषमातङ्गानां रुमानिक्षिप्तानां एकलवणत्वजातीयलक्षणः परिणामः, वर्त्तितैलानलानां च प्रदीप इति।—तत्त्ववैशारदी on व्यासभाष्य, Pada IV., Sutra 14.)