Pakudha Kaccayana

was an Indian teacher and philosopher who lived around the 6th century BCE, contemporaneous with Mahavira and the Buddha. He was an atomist who believed that everything was made of seven eternal elements – earth, water, fire, air, happiness, pain and soul.

Early life

According to the Pali Canon, Kacayana was his family name and he is said to have belonged to a Baman Family. He was sometimes called Pakkudha Katiyana, or Kadhudha Katiyana.

Teachings

According to Pakudha, there are seven eternal "elements": Earth, Water, Fire, Air, Joy, Sorrow and Life. Pakudha further asserted that these elements do not interact with one another.
The Samannaphala Sutta represents Pakudha's views as follows:
In the Brahmajala Sutta, theories such as Pakudha's are labeled as "Atomic theory" and "eternalism".
According to Buddhaghosa, he suffered from many obsessional rituals with regard to the use of water, avoiding the use of cold water and always using hot; when this was not available, he did not wash. If he crossed a stream he would consider this a sin, and would make expiation by constructing a mound of earth.
He did not speak of God, the soul or the other world, which has led some scholars to class him as a materialist.