His primary area of study was Rasavādam, considered to be a type of alchemy. He gave blackening of earthen pot and ripening of fruit as examples of this phenomenon. He authored the text “Vaisesika Sutras” or Aphorisms, pioneering the atomic theory, describing dimension, motion and chemical reactions of atoms.Īcharya Kanada considered the atom minute objects invisible to the naked eye which come into being and vanished in an instant they were indestructible and hence eternal.Īdherents of this philosophy further held that atoms of same substance combined with each other to produce dvyanuka (bi-atomic molecules) and tryanuka (tri-atomic molecules). This devinuka has the properties similar to those of the two original paramanu. Kanada also put forward the idea that atoms could be combined in various ways to produce chemical changes in presence of other factors such as heat. He founded the Vaisheshika School of philosophy where he taught his ideas and the nature of the universe. He called this indivisible matter, “anu” which literally means atom. He realized that he could not divide the food into further parts and the realization of a matter which cannot be dividedfurther came into existence. As he nibbled at the food in his hand, throwing away the small particles one by one until he was unable to break it down anymore and it left a smell on his hands. This theory occurred to him while he was walking with food in his hand. It was Kanada who first realized the idea that “anu” (atom) was an indestructible particle of matter. People started calling him Kanada after this incidence as ‘kan’ translates to the smallest particle in Sanskrit. And for this reason alone, a single grain of rice was as important as all the riches in the world.
The collection of many meals would feed an entire family and ultimately the entire mankind was made up of many families.
When questioned about why he was collecting grains of rice that even a beggar wouldn’t touch, Kashyap replied that one grain in itself may seem worthless but a collection of some hundred grains make up a person’s meal. Noticing this behaviour from a boy of a well-to-do family, an inquisitive crowd gathered around him and started wondering why he was acting in such a strange manner.
He noticed that thousands of pilgrims in the town were littering its roads with flowers and grains of rice which they offered at the temples by the shore of river Ganges.įascinated by the tiny particles, Kashyap began collecting the grains of rice from the ground while everyone else was busy offering prayers or bathing in the Ganges. As a young boy, he once accompanied his father on a pilgrimage to Prayaga. Kashyap displayed a keen sense of detail since childhood and minute things attracted his attention. He was the son of a philosopher named Ulka. However, not many people are aware that a theory of atoms was formulated approximately 2500 years before Dalton by an Indian sage and philosopher named Acharya Kanada.Īcharya Kanada, originally known by the name of Kashyap, is believed to have been born either around 600 BC or 800 BC in Prabhas Kshetra near Dwaraka in present day Gujarat, India. Modern science credits the atomic theory to an English chemist and physicist named John Dalton (1766-1844).