Editing Light (section)

===Classical India===
In [[Science and technology in ancient India|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 [[atomism|atomicity]] of these elements is not specifically mentioned and it appears that they were actually taken to be continuous.<ref name="sifuae.com">{{cite web |url=http://www.sifuae.com/sif/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Shastra-Pratibha-2015-Seniors-Booklet.pdf |title=Shastra Pratibha 2015 Seniors Booklet |website=Sifuae.com |access-date=29 August 2017 |archive-date=30 May 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150530101227/http://www.sifuae.com/sif/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Shastra-Pratibha-2015-Seniors-Booklet.pdf }}</ref>
The ''[[Vishnu Purana]]'' refers to sunlight as "the seven rays of the sun".<ref name="sifuae.com"/>

The Indian [[Buddhist]]s, 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.<ref name="sifuae.com"/>