---
type: Concept
bundle: nyaya-vaisheshika
bundle_version: 0.9.0
id: paramanu
title: Paramāṇu
iast: Paramāṇu
devanagari: परमाणु
description: 'The atom: the eternal, partless, imperceptible ultimate unit of the four elemental substances, qualitatively distinct and quality-bearing; NOT the Democritean atom, NOT the atom of modern physics, NOT a featureless mathematical point of matter.'
darshana:
- Vaiśeṣika
- Nyāya
school_scope: 'Vaiśeṣika atomism is a metaphysical, quality-bearing pluralism, not a physical theory in the modern sense. Cross-bundle: cosmology-creation v0.7 handles cosmic manifestation and dissolution; paramāṇu is the ontological building-block, not a stage of cosmological emanation. Kept distinct.'
text_source: Vaiśeṣika Sūtra 7.1.20; Praśastapāda, Padārthadharmasaṃgraha
tags:
- paramanu
- atom
- atomism
- vaisheshika
- substance
not:
- term: the Democritean atom
  why: Democritus's atoms are homogeneous bits of one kind of matter differing only in shape, size, and arrangement, moving in a void. Vaiśeṣika paramāṇus come in four qualitatively distinct kinds (earth, water, fire, air), each carrying its own specific qualities (earth-atoms have smell, water-atoms taste, and so on), and their combination is governed by unseen moral force (adṛṣṭa) and ultimately God, not blind mechanics. The resemblance is superficial.
  instead: Define paramāṇu as the eternal, indivisible, imperceptible ultimate unit of each of the four elements, qualitatively differentiated by element, bearing its own qualities and its own ultimate particularity (viśeṣa), combining into dyads and triads under non-mechanical ordering.
- term: the atom of modern physics
  why: The physicist's atom is divisible (nucleus, electrons), describable mathematically, and definitely not eternal. The paramāṇu is by definition partless and indivisible (its indivisibility is a conceptual endpoint, reached by the impossibility of infinite division), eternal, and irreducibly qualitative. Mapping it onto the chemical or physical atom imports divisibility and a quantitative frame the concept denies.
- term: a featureless point-particle of matter
  why: Paramāṇus are not bare quantities of stuff. Each bears real qualities and is individuated by a viśeṣa; earth-atoms are qualitatively unlike water-atoms. The concept is embedded in a categorial ontology (substance, quality, particularity), not a homogeneous matter-field.
related:
- /concepts/dravya.md
- /concepts/dvyanuka-tryanuka.md
- /concepts/samanya-vishesha.md
- /concepts/ishvara.md
timestamp: '2026-07-02'
okf_version: '0.2'
license: CC BY-SA 4.0
---

# Paramāṇu -- परमाणु

**Not:** the Democritean atom, the physics atom, a matter-point

## What It Actually Means

Paramāṇu is the Vaiśeṣika atom: the eternal, partless, imperceptibly small ultimate unit of the four elemental substances, earth, water, fire, and air. The argument for it is conceptual, not experimental: division cannot proceed to infinity without every object becoming equally infinite in parts, so there must be a smallest indivisible term, and being partless it is uncaused and eternal. Crucially, paramāṇus are qualitatively differentiated, earth-atoms possess smell, water-atoms taste, fire-atoms colour, air-atoms touch, and each is individuated by its own ultimate particularity (viśeṣa). They do not combine by blind collision: two atoms form a dyad and dyads aggregate into the first perceptible unit under the influence of unseen moral desert (adṛṣṭa) and, at the cosmic scale, the will of Īśvara. So Vaiśeṣika atomism is a metaphysics of eternal, quality-bearing, morally-and-divinely-ordered building blocks, which is why equating the paramāṇu with the Greek or the modern atom, both of which strip out the qualities, the particularity, and the ordering agency, badly distorts it.

## Audience Metaphor

The physics atom is a Lego brick: uniform material, distinguished only by shape and slot, snapped together by mechanical force. The paramāṇu is more like an irreducible musical note: there are exactly four kinds, each with its own timbre (its element and quality), each one uniquely itself, and they combine into chords not by collision but under an ordering hand. Call them both 'atom' and you will hear the music as clicking plastic.

## Citations

1. Vaiśeṣika Sūtra 7.1.20 and the atomist sūtras -- see [references/vaisheshika-sutra.md](../references/vaisheshika-sutra.md)
2. Praśastapāda, Padārthadharmasaṃgraha, atoms, dyads, and adṛṣṭa -- see [references/padarthadharmasamgraha.md](../references/padarthadharmasamgraha.md)
3. Cross-bundle: cosmology-creation v0.7 -- cosmic manifestation, distinct from atomic composition
