section_path: Historical theories about light, in chronological order/Classical India
section_name: Classical India
paragraph_text: Classical India
  
  In ancient India, the Hindu schools of Samkhya and Vaisheshika, from around the early centuries AD developed theories on light. According to the Samkhya school, light is one of the five fundamental "subtle" elements (tanmatra) out of which emerge the gross elements. The atomicity of these elements is not specifically mentioned and it appears that they were actually taken to be continuous. The Vishnu Purana refers to sunlight as "the seven rays of the sun".
  
  The Indian Buddhists, such as Dignāga in the fifth century and Dharmakirti in the seventh century, developed a type of atomism that is a philosophy about reality being composed of atomic entities that are momentary flashes of light or energy. They viewed light as being an atomic entity equivalent to energy.