Book 2 (The Duties of Government Superintendents), Chapter XX: MEASUREMENT OF SPACE AND TIME

THE Superintendent of lineal measure shall possess the knowledge of measuring space and time.

atoms (paramdnavah) are

1 particle thrown off by the wheel of a chariot.

8 particles are equal to 1 likshd.

8 likshds are equal to the middle of a yúáka (louse) or a yúka of medium size.

8 yukas are equal to 1 yava (barley) of middle size.

1 angula (* of an English inch) or the middlemost joint 8 yavas are equal to of the middle finger of a man of medium size may be

taken to be equal to an angula. 4 angulas are equal to 1 dhanurgraha. 8 angulas are equal to 1 dhanurmushti. 12 angulas are equal to 1 vitasti, or 1 chhaydpaurusha. 14 angulas are equal to 1 sama, sala, pariraya, or pada. 2 vitastis are equal to 1 aratni or 1 prájápatya hasta 2 vitastis plus | dhanurgraha arel hasta used in measuring balances and cubic measures, equal to and pasture lands. 2 vitastis plus 1 dhanurmusti 1 kishku or 1 kamsa.

1 kishku according to sawyers and blacksmiths and used 42 angulas are equal to in measuring the grounds for the encampment of the

army, for forts and palaces. 54 angulas are equal to 1 hasta used in measuring timber forests. i

1 vyáma, used in measuring ropes and the depth of

angulas are equal to

digging, in terms of a man's height. 4 aratnis are equal to 1 danda, 1 dhanus, 1 nálika and 1 paurusha. 108 angulas are equal to 1 garhapatya dhanus (i.e., a measure used by carpenters

called grihapati). This measure is used in measuring

roads and fort-walls.

The same (108 angulas) are 1 paurusha, a measure used in building sacrificial altars.

6 kamsas or 192 angulas arel danda, used in measuring such lands as are gifted to

10 dandas are equal to 1 rajju.

2 rajjus are equal to 1 paridesa (square measure).

3 rajjus are equal to 1 nivartana (square measure). The same (3 rajjus) plus 2

dandas on one side only are 1 báhu (arm).

1000 dhanus are equal to 1 goruta (sound of a cow). 4 gorutas are equal to 1 yojana.

Thus are the lineal and square measures dealt with. Then with regard to the measures of time:---

(The divisions of time are) a truti, lava, nimesha, kdashthd, kala, náliká, muhirta, forenoon, afternoon, day, night, paksha, month, ritu (season), ayana (solstice); samvatsara (year), and

2 trutis are equal to 1 lava. 2 lavas are equal to 1 nimesha. 5

nimeshas are equal to l káshthá. káshthás are equal to 1 kalá.

1 náliká, or the time during which one ádhaka of water passes 40 kalás are equal to out of a pot through an aperture of the same diameter as that of a

wire of 4 angulas in length and made of 4 máshas of gold. 2 nálikas are equal to 1 muhúrta. 15 muhúrtas are

equal to 1 day or 1 night.

Such a day and night happen in the months of Chaitra and Asvayuja. Then after the period of six months it increases or diminishes by three muhúrtas.

When the length of shadow is eight paurushas (96 angulas), it is 1/18th part of the day.

When it is 6 paurushas (72 angulas), it is 1/14th part of the day; when 4 paurushas, 1/8th part; when 2 paurushas, 1/6th part; when 1 paurusha, Y4th part; when it is 8 angulas, 3/10th part (trayodasabhagah); when 4 angulas, 3/8th part; and when no shadow is cast, it is to be considered midday.

Likewise when the day declines, the same process in reverse order shall be observed.

It is in the month of Ashddha that no shadow is cast in midday. After Ashddha, during the six months from Srdvana

upwards, the length of shadow successively increases by two angulas and during the next six months from Mágha upwards, it successively decreases by two angulas.

Fifteen days and nights together make up one paksha. That paksha during which the moon waxes is white (sukla) and that paksha during which the moon wanes is bahula.

Two pakshas make one month (mása). Thirty days and nights together make one work-a-month (prakarmamdsah). The same (30 days and nights) with an additional half a day makes one solar month (saura).

The same (30) less by half a day makes one lunar month

(chandramdsa). Twenty-seven (days and nights) make a

sidereal month (nakshatramdsa). Once in thirty-two months

there comes one malamdsa profane month, i.e., an extra

month added to lunar year to harmonise it with the solar. Once in thirty-five months there comes a malamdsa for Asvavdhas. Once in forty months there comes a malamasa for hastivahas. Two months make one ritu (season). Srdvana and

proshthapada make the rainy season (varshd). Asvayuja and

Karthika make the autumn (sarad). Margasirsha and Phausha make the winter (hemanta). Magha and Phalguna make the dewy season (sisira). Chaitra and Vaisdkha make the spring (vasanta). Jyeshthdmiliya and Ashddha make the summer (grishma). Seasons from sisira and upwards are the

summer-solstice (uttardyana), and (those)

from varshd and upwards are the winter solstice (dakshindyana). Two solstices (ayanas) make one year (samvatsara). Five years make one yuga. The sun carries off (harati) 1/60th of a whole day every day and thus makes one complete day in every two months

(ritau). Likewise the moon (falls behind by 1/60th of a

whole day every day and falls behind one day in every two months). Thus in the middle of every third year, they (the sun and the moon) make one adhimdsa, additional month, first in the summer season and second at the end of five years.