Mr. CoLEBROOKE OH the Philosojihy of Indian Sectaries. 557 



constitute air ; then fire ; next water ; and afterwards earth ; subsequently 

 body with its organs ; and ultimately this whole world. The concm-rence 

 of atoms arises from action (whether of one or both) wliich must have a 

 cause : that cause, alleged to be an unseen virtue, cannot be insensible ; 

 for an insensible cause cannot incite action : nor can it be design, for a 

 being capable of design is not yet existent, coming later in the progress of 

 creation. Either way, then, no action can be ; consequently no union nor 

 disunion of atoms ; and these, therefore, are not the cause of the world's 

 formation or dissolution, 



' Eternal atoms and transitory double atoms differ utterly ; and union of 

 discordant principles cannot take place. If aggregation be assumed as a 

 reason of their union, still the aggregate and its integrants are utterly 

 different ; and an intimate relation is further to be sought, as a reason for 

 tlie aggregation. Even this assumption therefore fails. 



' Atoms must be essentially active or inactive : were they essentially 

 active, creation would be perpetual; if essentially inactive, dissolution 

 would be constant. 



' Eternity of causeless atoms is incompatible with properties ascribed to 

 them ; colour, taste, smell, and tactility : for things possessing such qualities 

 are seen to be coarse and transient. Earth, endued with those four proper- 

 ties, is gross ; water, possessing three, is less so ; fire, having two, is still less ; 

 and air, with one, is fine. Whether the same be admitted or denied in resj)ect 

 of atoms, the argument is either way confuted : earthy particles, coarser than 

 aerial, would not be minute in the utmost degree ; or atoms possessing but 

 a single property, would not be Uke their effects possessing several. 



' The doctrine of atoms is to be utterly rejected, having been by no 

 venerable persons received, as the Sdncliija doctrine of matter, a plastic 

 principle, has been, in pait, by Menu and other sages.'* 



Points, on which the sectaries differ from the orthodox, rather than those 

 on which they conform, are the subjects of the present treatise. On 

 one point of conformity, however, it may be right to offer a brief remark, 

 8S it is one, on which the Jainas appear to lay particular stress. It concerns 

 the transmigration of the soul, whose destiny is especially governed by the 

 dying thoughts, or fancies entertained at the moment of dissolution, (see 

 page 437 of tliis volume). The vedas,\ in like manner, teach that the 



• Sane, &c. on Br. Sutr. 2. 2. § 3 (S. 17.) f Br. Sutt. I. 2. 1. 



