Philosophy In Jain Agams: Pradeśa and Atom

Reflection on Pradeśa (indivisible subtle units of substance) and Paramāṇu (Param + Aṇu- Ultimate atom, the fundamental in the form of Pudgala (physical substance), which is further indivisible, in detached form i.e. not in aggregate form and which is possessed of one type of colour, one type of smell, one type of taste and two types of touch. This should not be confused with the 'atom' of present day science; however, we may be using the word 'atom' only for paramānu in treatise. This is important in the context of astikāya. The fundamental element for the concept of astikāya is pradeśa and atom. The difference of pradeśa and atom is based on its attachment and detachment with the aggregate. Actually, in structure, both of them are one and same. The undetached part of an aggregate whose dimension is identical to that of an atom is called Pradeśa and when it is in detached condition, it is called atom.^[1] Pudgala (matter) can be of four kinds, which are - skandha i.e. aggregate, desa (fragment of an aggregate, constructed by imagination), pradeśa (indivisible point of an aggregate) and paramāṇu i.e. atom, this is important in the context of astikāya. There are three divisions of dharma, adharma, ākāśa and jīva i.e. skandha, deśa and pradeśa. Pudgala has atom also in addition. In the same way, other astikāya also have atoms but their name is pradeśa, because they never get detached from the aggregate. The number of pradeśas of dharmāstikāya and adharmāstikāya are innumerable and ākāsastikāya, pudgalāstikāya and jīvāstikāya have infinite pradeśas. Although one jīva has only innumerable pradeśas but, since the total number of jīva is infinite thus in jīvāstikāya, pradeśas are also infinite.^[2]