For example, he says that the atom must be spherical since it should be the same in all dimensions. His ascribing centrality to physics in the understanding of the universe also follows from his invariance principles. Physics is central to Kaṇāda's assertion that all that is knowable is based on motion. Kaṇāda was influential in Indian philosophies, and he appears in various texts by alternate names such as Kashyapa, Uluka, Kananda, Kanabhuk among others. His Vaisheshika philosophy similarly appears with alternate names, such as "Aulukya philosophy" derived from the nickname Uluka (literally owl, or grain eater in the night). In Jainism literature, he is referred as Sad-uluka, which means "the Uluka who propounded the doctrine of six categories". His ideas are also mentioned in Buddhist texts attributed to Aśvaghoṣa of the same period. Multiple Hindu texts dated to the 1st and 2nd century CE, such as the Mahavibhas and Jnanaprasthana from the Kushan Empire, quote and comment on Kaṇāda's doctrines. The Vaisheshika Sutras manuscript has survived into the modern era in multiple versions and the discovery of newer manuscripts in different parts of India by Thakur in 1957 and Jambuvijayaji in 1961, followed by critical edition studies, suggest that the text attributed to Kaṇāda was systematized and finalized sometime between 200 BCE and the start of the common era, with the possibility that its key doctrines may be much older.
The Vaisheshika Sutras mention competing schools of Indian philosophy such as Samkhya and Mimamsa, but make no mention of Buddhism, which has led scholars in more recent publications to posit estimates of 6th century BCE. In his review of 1961, Riepe states Kaṇāda lived sometime before 300 CE, but convincing evidence to firmly put him in a certain century remains elusive. The century in which Kaṇāda lived is unclear and has been a subject of a long debate. The ideas of Kaṇāda span a wide range of fields, and they influenced not only philosophy, but possibly scholars in other fields such as Charaka who wrote a medical text that has survived as Charaka Samhita. There are nine classes of substances (dravya), some of which are atomic, some non-atomic, and others that are all-pervasive. These six categories are dravya (substance), guna (quality), karma (action/ motion), samanya (generality/ commonness), visesa (particular), and samavaya (inherence). He claims that these are sufficient to describe everything in the universe, including observers. Kaṇāda's system speaks of six properties ( padārthas) that are nameable and knowable. Kaṇāda's ideas were influential on other schools of Hinduism, and over its history became closely associated with the Nyaya school of Hindu philosophy. If viewed from the prism of physics, his ideas imply a clear role for the observer as independent of the system being studied. He used these ideas with the concept of Atman (soul, Self) to develop a non-theistic means to moksha. Kaṇāda suggested that everything can be subdivided, but this subdivision cannot go on forever, and there must be smallest entities ( paramanu) that cannot be divided, that are eternal, that aggregate in different ways to yield complex substances and bodies with unique identity, a process that involves heat, and this is the basis for all material existence.
The school founded by Kaṇāda explains the creation and existence of the universe by proposing an atomistic theory, applying logic and realism, and is one of the earliest known systematic realist ontology in human history. His text is also known as Kaṇāda Sutras, or "Aphorisms of Kaṇāda". His traditional name "Kaṇāda" means "atom eater", and he is known for developing the foundations of an atomistic approach to physics and philosophy in the Sanskrit text Vaiśeṣika Sūtra. Įstimated to have lived sometime between 6th century to 2nd century BCE, little is known about his life. Kaṇāda ( Sanskrit: कणाद, IAST: Kaṇāda), also known as Ulūka, Kashyapa, Kaṇabhaksha, Kaṇabhuj was an ancient Indian natural scientist and philosopher who founded the Vaisheshika school of Indian philosophy that also represents the earliest Indian physics.