akasa Sanskrit word translated as ‘ether’ or ‘space’. Indian philosophical systems recognized various ontological categories, including that of substance. Akasa was thought of as a substance because it was believed to be the substratum of sound. Because akasa was understood to transmit sound waves, the term is better translated as ‘ether’ than ‘space’, but scholars are not unanimous on this. Akasa, though extended in space, was viewed as a non-material substance. It was thought of as all-pervading, infinite, indivisible and imperceivable, being inferred from the sensed quality of sound. D.K.C.