Concept of Five Elements - An Ancient Indian Approach

Abstract

The cosmic body is the grand total of material bodies and elements. The first and pure manifestation of those five elements are the inner conscience and bodily organs like ear etc. All matter is composed of five basic elements — panchamahabhutas — which inherit the properties of earth (prithvi), water (jala), fire (tejas), wind (vayu) and space (akasha). The subtlest is space and grossest is earth with every perceptive sense. Each of the five elements represents a state of matter in nature. Solid matter is classified as the “Earth” element. Water is everything that is liquid. Air is everything that is a gas. Fire is that part of Nature that transforms one state of matter into another. Ether is the mother of the other elements and is the basis of higher spiritual experiences. The paper tries to shed some light on the various ways these Panchamahabhutas are manifested and also to the very notion of their varied existence. (Ball, P .2004)1