Units of time measurements in Puranas

[Avinash]

Puranas mention units of time measurements. I remember that there was a thread in which jndas ji had mentioned an experiment to measure a given time interval. I tried to locate that thread but could not.

 

Jndas ji,

Could you post the experiment here? I only remember that the experiment talks of time taken by some vessel to get submerged completely in water. Please provide as much details as you can.

 

I am asking because I want to do some calculations.

[Guest guest]

the link below has your anwer.

 

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Atlantis/4324/Intro-SD.html#Concept%20ot%20Time

 

this is according to bhagavatam.

 

[Avinash]

I remember it was posted in one of threads here that an experiment can be done to know a particular unit of time. I am looking for that.

[kmohan]

Srimad Bhagavatam Third Canto, Chapter Eleven ( by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada)

TEXT 9

 

dvadasardha-palonmanam

caturbhis catur-angulaih

svarna-masaih krta-cchidram

yavat prastha jala-plutam

 

dvadasa-ardha--six; pala--of the scale of weight; unmanam--measuring pot; caturbhih--by weight of four; catuh-angulaih--four fingers by measure; svarna--of gold; masaih--of the weight; krta-chidram--making a hole; yavat--as long as; prastha--measuring one prastha; jala-plutam--filled by water.

 

TRANSLATION

 

The measuring pot for one nadika, or danda, can be prepared with a six-pala-weight [fourteen ounce] pot of copper, in which a hole is bored with a gold probe weighing four masa and measuring four fingers long. When the pot is placed on water, the time before the water overflows in the pot is called one danda.

 

PURPORT

 

It is advised herein that the bore in the copper measuring pot must be made with a probe weighing not more than four masa and measuring not longer than four fingers. This regulates the diameter of the hole. The pot is submerged in water, and the overflooding time is called a danda. This is another way of measuring the duration of a danda, just as time is measured by sand in a glass. It appears that in the days of Vedic civilization there was no dearth of knowledge in physics, chemistry or higher mathematics. Measurements were calculated in different ways, as simply as could be done.

 

 

also,

 

One truti - 8/13,500 second

One vedha - 8/135 second

One lava - 8/45 second

One nimesa - 8/15 second

One ksana - 8/5 second

One kastha - 8 seconds

One laghu - 2 minutes

One danda - 30 minutes

One prahara - 3 hours

One day - 12 hours

One night - 12 hours

One paksa - 15 days

 

 

 

[Jahnava Nitai Das]

Hare Krishna! Sorry for not replying in time. Looks like someone has already posted the relevant verse from Bhagavatam. That entire chapter deals with the science of time measurements. I would suggets you look over the whole chapter.

 

[DeepakM98]

Dear jndas,

 

You wrote in a posting about shiva's third son. Could you tell me more about him?

[kmohan]

Avinashji

I am sorry. I didn't read carefully enough to see that your

 

query was specifically directed to Sri Jndas.

 

Jndasji

I am sorry. I didn't mean to offend you by replying ahead of

 

you. I just happened to be reading the chapter and saw the

 

relevant verse and remembered Avinash's post. So I posted it

 

here.

[Avinash]

There is nothing wrong in you replying to me. /images/graemlins/smile.gif I addressed the question to jndas ji because I remembered him posting some experiment on time measurement from Puranas in one thread. It is not that I wanted answers only from him. Thank you for the answers.

I am going through that chapter.

[Avinash]

I am going through the chapter. There are some units used which are not used at present. I am checking if I can understand the meanings of those. If not, then I will post my querries here.

[Avinash]

I went through the whole chapter. As I understand the pot, after making a hole in its bottom, has to be kept on a water body (e.g. a river). One nadika is the time taken by the pot to sink in water completely. Is that correct?