Modern cosmology deals with universe’s matter and energy. Of the total matter only about 16% is the observable effulgent matter and the rest, 84% is the invisible dark matter. It is addressed as ‘dark’ because it does not emit light. It exerts gravitation because it has mass. It is addressed as the ‘missing mass of the universe’ because it is not observable and not used in forming the celestial objects. It has been a subject of intense research with minimal success. Professor Dan Hooper of the University of Chicago concluded in his review article in the New Scientist (Volume 244, No. 3256, November 16, 2019) that the “…stubborn elusiveness of dark matter has left many physicists and cosmologists surprised and confused. In droves, we are returning to our chalkboards…”. This author’s intense research in the ancient Vedas, wherein cosmology is presented with chapter-and-verse, brings out the fact that the ‘dark matter’ is foundational in defining the Nature-entity – the ‘material-cause’ of the universe. Early Indologists addressed the Vedas as the “The ancient knowledge books of the Aryans (Hindus)”. Impressed with the knowledge of cosmology in the Veda mantras, Professor Carl Sagan on his famous TV series, ‘The Cosmos’, recited the English translation of a Veda mantra and remarked - “Most sophisticated ancient cosmological ideas came from India”. The Vedic cosmology permeates in mantra formulations composed in the Sanskrit language by the ancient rishis (sages), the scholarly maatalis (cosmologists). Based on the Veda mantras, this author developed the Vedic Cosmology Scenario that is recently published in two volumes (Kindle Direct Publishing, Amazon) under the title, “THE VEDIC BIG BANG© - A New Cosmology Scenario Revealed in the Ancient Veda Mantras of India”.
    The Vedas define Nature ( Prakriti ) as a corpuscular entity composed of three types of fundamental particles named satah, rajah, tamah. Rishi Kapil, a renouned sage of ancient India in his Saankhya Sutra aphorism (1/26) defined the Nature-entity as the सत्त्वरजस्तमसां साम्यावस्था प्रकृति:,…( “Satva-rajs-tam-saam saamyaavastha Prakritihi…”), which means “the Nature (Prakriti) is made up of three types of particles: satah, rajah, tamah …”. It is the term tamah in this trio that in Sanskrit language indisputably stands for matter that is “dark”.
    The word-formation in Sanskrit is dhatu-based (root-based) and each word formed out of a dhatu reflects the properties of that dhatu. In addition to being scientific in its linguistic structure and having a complex grammar foundation, the Sanskrit language is rich in synonyms as well. From many more in the Vedas this author has collected 39 Sanskrit synonyms for Nature, 22 for the Space-entity, 21 for the Sun, 33 for the Earth and so on - each synonym revealing a property of its dhatu. Tridhatu is a synonym for Nature. It means - “a substance (entity) made of three kinds of matter” and Trigunatmaka is another synonym for Nature, meaning “a tri-property entity” . The three types of matter satah, rajah, tamah with their three distinct properties are fundamental to the existence of both realms of this creation: animate and inanimate (consciousness and physical). Without going into the details here, the tamah component of Nature is said to create inertness, sluggishness and inactivity (Manusmriti, 12/10, Taittireeya Aranyak, 10/10/5).
    That the Nature in the Vedas is a three-matter conglomerate is presented differently in the Taittireeya Aranyak (10/10/5) - the three components of Nature are symbolized with three colours (part mantra presented here), अजामेकां लोहितशुक्लकृष्णां बव्हीं प्रजां जनयन्तीं सरुपां |… (“Ajaamekaam lohit-shukl-krishnaam bavheem prajaam janyanteem saroopaam |”) This translates into: “With the (fundamental) properties of lohit-shukl-krishn (red-white-black) is the one and only one Aja (Nature) that itself never takes birth but from it are created numerous diverse populations (cosmos) that inherit the same properties.…” (Taittireeya Aranyak, 10/10/5)
    The term Aja is a synonym for Nature - an entity that never takes birth but pre-exists. All cosmos ‘inherit the same properties’ implicitly means that the same laws apply throughout the universe (many mantras e.g. AtharvaVeda (10/8/7) stipulate the same principle). The Taittireeya statement also pronounces that the fundamental properties of satah, rajah and tamah, expressed with the adjectives of red, white and black colours, are the cause for the diverse creation (non-homogeneous universe).     The term कृष्ण ( krishn = black) is used for the third component tamah because the literal meaning of the term ‘krishn’ is ‘black’. Yet another meaning of the term krishn is “one that has high attraction”. Yogi-raj Krishna, the preacher of Bhagvadgita, was named Krishn because he was born with a very ‘dark’ complexion that was extolled in the historic poetry as “extremely attractive” or having “extreme attraction”. The tamah matter of cosmology is ‘dark’ because it does not emit light and it has attraction, as we now know, it exhibits gravitational attraction.
The formation-dissolution of the universe in the Vedic Cosmology is cyclic (RigVeda, 10/190/3; …; …) with a periodicity of 8.64 billion years (AtharvaVeda, 8/2/21). That it is in billion years is amazing, determined in the distant antiquity of the Vedic Civilization. Obviously, the Vedic rishis (sages) had a method by which they arrived at this odd yet high number. The Vedic formation process of the universe is through matter-matter transition wherein the matter is conserved (RigVeda, 10/129/1, 10/72/3).
The Sanskrit grammar places the Nature-entity at tritiya vibhakti (third conjugation), rendering the Nature in the Vedas as an inert entity.
   Unique Vedic definitions of the Space-entity (Nirukt Sutra, 5/3/2/2) and its synonyms representing its properties are superior to the information and definition provided in Modern Cosmology.
A few examples of Vedic defined Space-entity are:
• It is Pushkaram because it rises above matter like a lotus flower rising out of mud, yet remaining beautiful and unblemished .

• It is Pushkaram because “ it has the property of pushpate”- one that exhibits the "action of swelling like a flower" (metaphor: a microscopic bud swelling and bursting into a flower - a microscopic big bang).
    The Space-entity of the Vedas is said to be a conterminous container for the matter of the universe and it has the property of stretching in 3-D without snapping (RigVeda, 10/129/3). Detailed discussions on the Space, the Time and several other entities based on Vedic references, are in the book by this author (Chapter 5, “THE VEDIC BIG BANG”).

Vedic Fundamental Particle
    Contemporary cosmologists continue to wonder about the origin of the mysterious dark matter, its sustenance in the galaxies and its effect on the effulgent matter of the universe. The dark matter could be the modern cosmology’s conceived WIMPs (Weakly Interacting Massive Particles)    (CONTINUED)

or it could be the tamah, one of the three most fundamental quanta of the Vedic Cosmology.To understand how the triplet is used in forming the universe one has to understand how the Veda defines a fundamental particle.     The general Vedic term for the fundamental particle is “aapah” as well as “paramanu” . A paramanu by definition is a piece of matter not divisible further. Rishi Kanaad in Vaisheshik Darshan (7/1/20) stated the nature and geometry of a paramanu that its nature is नित्यं परिमण्डलम् (nityam parimandalam) meaning - “eternal and spherical” . The fact is that if a spherical particle is attached to another particle the resulting particle cannot remain spherical. Therefore, in the Vedic thought a non-spherical shape cannot be a particle’s last state (more discussion in the book).
    All these Vedic definitions are preserved in the Vedas and the Vedic Darshans (Philosophies) since time immemorial.

First Action of Aditi (Nature) – Why Tamah (Dark Matter) is Important
    From dissolution to the formation of the universe the tri-property Vedic Nature transits from inactive Asata-state into the active Sata-state of matter with all three types of particles satah, rajah and tamah available to form the universe in both realms.
    In Vedic Cosmology the first step in Nature is not an explosion as in the modern Big Bang Hypothesis; it is the formation of a spheroid of matter in ovate shape, named the Maart-aand (Mortal-ovate, details in the book) and for preparing the Space in which to create the universe. The mantras (RigVeda, 10/72/9; Shatpath Brahmana, 11/1/6/1, 2; many references) stipulate that the Maart-aand remained in a Veda assigned active incubation period of one deva-yuga (4.32 million years) when it developed tremendous (tapah) heat energy and immense paryaplav (angular momentum around an axis, rotation in floatation). The Vedic term for this stage of the primordial matter is Hiranya-aand (Golden-embryo, hot ovate with golden brilliance) which is the Nature itself.
    The first action of Aditi (Nature) was to create the 7 deva matter/energy fields ‘out of its own body’ (detailed discussion in the book) and transmit them with high speed waves (urmim) in all directions, expanding the Space-entity ( Aakaash) from its tuchchhaya (diminutive) confines in the inactive Asata-state into the vast spread out Vyom, the colossal Space (RigVeda, 10/129/3). The Aditi filled the Vyom with the fundamental quanta of matter: satah, rajah and tamah. Obvious from these mantras is that the fundamental aapah (satah, rajah, tamah) are ubiquitous through the universe and act as the foundational background matter.
    A moment is reached when the leftover primordial Hiranya-aand, the proverbial 8th child of Aditi suffers vitatah (impetuous expansion, RigVeda, 10/129/5) and explodes into koti-koti (uncountable) smaller Maart-aands (ovates). The rotating Hiranya-aand creates a rotating universe which flattens with time into a “one-wheel system” with an axis (axle) of energy at its centre supplying energy to the system. Similar to a ‘bar’ at the centre of a galaxy, this axis of energy at the centre of the universe is termed as the Skambha, the “pillar of energy”. Of the several mantras depicting the universe as a rotating system around an axis, a part-mantra is presented here:
एकचक्रं वर्तत एकनेमि सहस्राक्षरं प्र पुरो नि पश्चा ।….... ( ek chakram vartat eknemi sahasraaksharam pr puro ni pshcha ।…), which translates into:
“This universe is a rotating one-wheel system in its real existence, with uncountable different non-decaying celestial objects in all directions (forward and reverse) governed by one (same) principle. ….” (AtharvaVeda 10/8/7).
    The Vedic process has a faster and simpler recipe for galaxy formation and the rotational momentum in all celestial objects. The second part of the above mantra (not presented here) states that the same principle governs the entire universe- an important deduction in physics.

Accounting for Three Matter Components: satah, rajah and tamah
    The Vedic philosophy stipulates that the extreme subtlety in the nature of satah matter enables it, in association with the rajah and tamah , to interact closely and favourably with the “quantum of consciousness”. It is this interaction that results in initiating birth and creating a living material body equipped with other metaphysical forces created from the satah component that work through the living body. In the inanimate (material) realm, the rajah represents the effulgent matter and energy of the universe and tamah, the dark matter, represents the inactive matter of the universe; both envisaged as detectable and measurable.
    Modern cosmologists surmise that a lot of dark matter is concentrated in the galaxies and has been responsible for galaxy formation and the rest is spread out in the inter-galactic void. Even if the tamah of the Vedas and the WIMPs (Weakly Interacting Massive Particles), conceived by the modern cosmology, could be thought of as particles from the same stock of matter, equating tamah particle and WIMPs may not be consistent with their basic definitions. The Veda defined tamah particle is indivividual, smallest quantum of matter, with the properties of darkness, ubiquity and inaction in its nature. These very specific properties of tamah particle may forbid it to form contemporary cosmology’s WIMPs which are thought to be massive fundamental particles.
    The Nature (Aja), defined to be eternal makes the three components of nature also eternal. Therefore this author surmises that each of the three components of Nature are in equal proportion, yielding the tamah (dark matter) to be 1/3rd (33.3%) of the total mass and energy of the universe. It is interesting to note that this proportion and modern cosmology’s 27% are in the same range!
    It is amazing that a Vedic rishi arrived at a deduction that the matter of the universe is quantized at its fundamental level. It would be too good to be true if the tamah of Vedic Cosmology turns out to be the ‘dark matter’ of the modern Big Bang cosmology.
Etymology of the term Aapah leads to New Deductions
    The answer to the question as to why a fundamental particle is termed “aapah” unveils several new possibilities. The Vedic answer lies in the derivation of the Sanskrit term aapah. The word aapah is derived from अप (ap), which originates from the root आप्लृ व्याप्तौ (aaplri vyaaptau). The aapah in the realm of physical creation is always feminine and plural.
    The root meaning of the term ap is contained in the second part of the root vyaaptau of aaplri vyaaptau . This means that aapah are ‘all-pervading’. The term to represent something that is all-pervading/ubiquitous, is व्यापक ( vyaapak), also derived from the root व्याप्त ( vyaapt .    The term व्यापक ( vyaapak) itself is formed with वि आप क (vi aap ka) with अप ( ap ) being at its core. It was stipulated under the ‘First Action of Aditi (Nature)’ that the Nature fills the Space of the universe with aapah quanta (satah, rajah and tamah ) before the Vedic Big Bang explosion takes place in the brilliantly hot primordial rotating matter ovate.    (CONTINUED)