The creation of Mahābhūtas (five main elements)

The creation of the universe and Pañcamahābhūtas is described with clarity in the Mokṣadharma parva of the Mahābhārata The creation of various objects is the doing of the Brahman by his will. For existence and sustenance, He created water, which is essential for all living creatures for life and growth. Water pervades the entire universe like the earth, mountain, clouds etc. All things, in short, which have form, are but the transformations of water. The origin of water was from the darkness which developed pressure. This pressure led to the springing up of wind. When water occupies space then air is also felt there. So there will be pressure in space and sound increases. This shows that the wind was present there. In the oceans too this can be seen, that is, wind uses space in water. This gives rise to waves, which do not stop. The friction of wind and water gave rise to a powerful force called fire accompanying burning energy with lights. The light of the fire annihilated the darkness which had occupied space. The space and water along with wind helped fire to spread out and thus fire became solid. The Earth is nothing but the fire dropping from the sky in the liquid form, compacts to form earth. The root of all tastes, scents, liquids and all animals is earth or land. The five are vast or infinite and is named great or great creatures.

A body consists of all or made of the five elements. The activity of body is wind; sound is space; heat makes the fire; water the essential juices; the bones flesh etc which are solid forms of earth. It can be stated that all things movable and immovable, found in this universe is the result of the welding of five elements. The five sense organs in the living things too are the gift of these five elements; the eyes are from fire; ear is from space; nose formed from earth, tongue formed from water, touch is assigned to wind.

The five elements which are known as great are found in the immovable things like trees too. The wind accompanied by sound makes the flowers and fruits fall from the trees. The sound here is the sound of thunder and lightning. The function of the ears is to perceive sound, so it can be said that the trees have ears to hear. The drying and sickening of leaves and barks and fruits make one conclude that trees have heat and this also indicates that they can feel touch. They may perceive whether a flower is fragrant or nasty, proving their smell-sense. A creeper twines itself to a big tree proving that it has vision. Like a straw the roots of the trees draw water. Trees too are prone to disease. It can be cured by medicines and by other means. These points out those trees are capable of tasting. The lotus stalk is used as a pipe to draw water, so also the roots of the trees. Plants with the help of wind draw water. Like human begins, trees too have pleasure and pain. When a tree is cut down or chopped off, a sort of liquid, sap oozes out. After some days new sprouts appear on the cut portion. This proves that trees have life and they are not mere dead things. The digestion of the water drawn up by the trees takes place with the help of wind and fire. This makes the tree as humid as to the proportion of water it takes in. The bodies of all mobile things dwell in the five elements, but the proportion of the elements varies. The objects have mobility because of these five elements. Earth is transformed as bones, flesh, skin, marrow and blood vessels in the body. The common properties of both movable and immovable are sound, touch, vision, taste and scent. The scent which is formed by the earth is of nine sorts -pleasant, unpleasant, sweet, pungent, far reaching, varied, dry, foul and indifferent.^[1] Water as the form of phlegm, bile, sweat, fat, blood is seen in the bodies of movable things. Eyes open up to the world of light so also wind helps the touch sense. The other properties of water are sound, touch vision and taste. The six kinds of tastes are sweetness, saltiness, bitterness, pungency and sourness. All embodied creatures have fire in them in the form of anger, energy, internal heat, eyes and the heat required for digestion of food. The form has various kinds which are perceived from light, short, tall, thick, square, round, white, black, red, blue, yellow, reddish, hard, bright, smooth, oil soft and terrible. All these forms contribute to form the property of light and vision.

The Prāṇa, the vital breath makes a living creature capable of moving about. Vyāna helps them to act; helps Apāna going downward; Samāna is within the heart; Udāna helps passing out of exertion which enables speech of virtues^[2] (through the throat, the lungs and the mouth). The vital airs which are caused by the five elements enable the embodied creature to live and move. Touch, which belongs to the element wind, is of various kinds like warm, cold, agreeable and disagreeable, indifferent, burning, mild, soft, light and heavy. The two properties of wind element are sound and touch. In short wind is said to have twelve properties.

All living creatures are bestowed with nostrils, the ears, mouth heart and stomach. These five form the space element. Sound is also the property of space. Sound has seven varities like ṣadja, ṛṣabha, gāndhāra, Madhyama, Dhaivata, Pañcama and Niṣāda.^[3] Drums and other instruments are attached to sound and this sound percolates the entire space like Supreme Being. The seven sounds contain all animate and inanimate creatures and the sound of either large or small drums, conch shells, clouds or ears is contained in seven sound. In short it can be stated that sound which has various kinds belongs to the property of space. Sounds which are the property of wind can be heard by various kinds of touch and learned men have said that sound is the child of space. When untouched, sound is not heard; the elements grow and increase when combined with their counterparts in the body. In all living creatures, wind, fire and water live and they form the root of life. The vital airs which passe through this root help life to sustain in the body.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

iṣṭaścāniṣṭagandhaśca madhuraḥ kaṭureva ca |
nirhārī saṃhataḥ snigdho rūkṣo viśada eva ca |
evaṃ nava vidho jñeyaḥ pārthivo gandhavistaraḥ | Śāntiparva , 184-28, 29.

[2]:

prāṇāt praṇīyate prāṇī vyānād vyāyacchate tathā |
gacchatyapāno'dhaścaiva samāno hṛdyavasthitaḥ ||
udānāducchvasiti ca pratibhedāśca bhāṣate |
ityete vāyavaḥ pañca ceṣṭayantīha dehinam || Mahābhārata XII, 184–24, 25.

[3]:

ṣaḍja ṛṣabha gāndhārau madhyamo dhaivatastathā |
pañcamaścāpi vijñeyastathā cāpi niṣādavān || Mahābhārata, XII, 184–39.