Apastambashulbasutra 157.1

157.1

dvipadastriṃśadaṅgulaḥ /
tripadaḥ pañcacatvāriṃśadaṅgulaḥ /
padaṃ pañcadaśāṅgulamiti vacanād /
kāma icchā /
yathākāma eva yāthākāmī yathecchā tathā gṛhṇīyāt /
prakrame 'dhyardhaprakramo viprakṛṣṭaprakrama iti naivamanvarthasaṃjñā /
padādhikasya mānārthasya vācako yathā yaugikaḥ tathā dvipadaṃ tripadaṃ vā vakti, krāmatyaneneti kramaḥ /
prakṛṣṭaḥ kramaḥ iti nirūḍhaḥ, kalpanārthadravye vacanātpadādhikaṃ prakrama iti śabdārthasya viśayitvāt viśayitvaṃ kalpitārthānāmapi vācakatvādanekavācakatvaṃ /
śabdārthānāṃ viśayitvaṃ yataḥ, kasya padādayo grahītavyāḥ ityāha--

Two padas is thirty aṅgulas. / Three padas is forty-five aṅgulas. / Because of the statement, "A pada is fifteen aṅgulas." / Kāma means desire. / Acting according to desire is "one acts as one pleases": one may take as one wishes. / Regarding prakrama, "one-and-a-half prakrama" or "extended prakrama"—the term is not etymologically literal in that way. / As expressing an entity consisting of a measure exceeding a pada, as it is derivative, it denotes two padas or three padas: "one strides by this" is a step (krama); / an extended step (prakṛṣṭaḥ kramaḥ) is established by conventional usage; because it is taught regarding an object meant for construction, a prakrama exceeds a pada: "because the meaning of the word is indeterminate". Indeterminacy means denoting multiple things, because it also denotes conventionally assumed meanings. / Since the meanings of the words are indeterminate, whose padas, etc., are to be taken? He states: