India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c9.s5.t1: Measures of Length

India as Known to Pāṇini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashṭādhyāyī c9.s5.t1

Language: English

Measures of Length

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PRAMĀṆA—*Pramāṇa* denotes a measure of length, except in VI.2.4, where it includes weights also, as *go-lavaṇa*, *aśva-lavaṇa*, salt for the cow and the horse, and in VI.2.12 where the length of time is also indicated by it as *Prāchya-saptasamaḥ*, *Gāndhāri-saptasamaḥ*, meaning a resident of seven years' standing in the Prāchya or Gandhāra country.

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Pāṇini mentions the following measures of length:

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(1) *Aṅguli* (V. 4. 86). 8 barley grains (*Arth.* II. 20, p. 106)=¾th of an English inch.

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(2) *Dishti* and *Vitasti* (VI. 2. 31). Both are synonymous terms (*Bhāshya*, quoting a *śloka-vārttika*, VI.2.1; III.122). *Vitasti* in the table of the *Arthaśāstra*=12 *aṅgulas* (II. 20). But *dishṭi* as a measure is of very rare occurrence in Indian literature. The word occurs in the Kharoshṭhī documents from Central Asia as *diṭhi*, corresponding to the Iranian measure *distay*, no doubt equivalent to a span (F. W. Thomas, Some Notes on Central Asian Kharoshṭhi Documents, *B. S. O. A. S.*, XI, 1945, p. 547).

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Patañjali also mentions the *śama* measure before *dishṭi* and *vitasti* (*Bhāshya*, V. 2. 37; II. 378), which according to the *Arthaśāstra* was equal to 14 *aṅgulas*. Probably the word *śambā* in Pāṇini (V. 4. 58) was connected with the *śama* measure, and indicated that kind of intensive ploughing in which the furrow was deepened to a *śama* or 14 *aṅgulas* of depth (*śambā karoti*).

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(3) *Purusha*. Pāṇini mentions the *purusha* measure, preceded by a numeral, to denote depth (*Purushāt pramāṇe' nyatarasyām*, IV.1.24), *e.g.* *dvipurushā*, *dvipurushī*; *tripurushā*, *tripurushī parikhā*, a moat 2 or 3 '*purushas*' deep; or *dvipuru-sham*, *tripurusham udakam*; water 2 or 3 *purusha* measures deep (*Purusha-hastibhyām-aṇ cha*, V. 2. 38, *Kāśikā*). Anything equal to 1 *purusha* measure in depth was called *paurusha*.

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The *purusha* measure is stated in the *Arthaśāstra* to be of three kinds:

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(i) 5′ 3″=84 *aṅgulas*=1 *vyāma*=1 *khāta purusha*, for measuring ropes, moats and depths;
(ii) 6′=96 *aṅgulas*=4 *aratni*=1 *purusha*, being the standard height of a man, probably to measure recruits for the army;
(iii) 6′ 9″=108 *aṅgulas*=4½ aratni=1 *purusha* measure, for sacrificial altars.

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Thus a moat of 2 *purusha* measures was 10½ ft. in depth and of 3 *purushas* 15¾ ft. According to Baudhāyana the *purusha* measure or altars was slightly bigger: *Pañchāratniḥ purusho vyāmaścha* (*Baudh.* S. XXX. 1. p. 389)), *i.e.* a *purusha* or *vyāma* is equal to 5 *aratnis* or 7½ ft. (cf. also *Padamañjarī* on IV. 1. 24, *Pañchāratniḥ purusha iti Śulva-vidaḥ*).

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(4) *Hastin.* A *hastī* measure is to be determined from the standard measurement of an elephant of the best class at forty years age, *viz.* 'seven *aratnis* in height, nine *aratnis* in *length*, ten *aratnis* in circumference' (*Arth.* II. 31).

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Kauṭilya, refers to the *hastī* measure twice, and at both places the length of the animal (*hastyāyāma*) is taken and not its height (p. 136). It shows that in general practice the *hastī* measure was based on the length of the animal, which was 9 *aratnis*=13½ ft.

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The height of a rampart in the *Mahāsutasoma Jātaka* (V. 477) is stated as 18 cubits (*aṭṭhārasa-hattha-pākārena*), or 27 feet, which would be equal to 2 *hastī* measures. Even today a fort-wall is built to be 18 cubits in height.

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(5) *Kāṇḍa* (IV. 1. 23) is referred to as a measure for measuring the area of fields. The *Arthaśāstra* in the table of field measures refers to 1 *daṇḍa*=six *kaṁsas* or 192 *aṅgulas*, i.e. 12 ft. (*Arth.* II. 20, p. 107). *Dvikāṇḍī, trikāṇḍī rajjuḥ*, cited in the *Kāśikā* shows that *kāṇḍa* was a submultiple of *rajju*. The *Bālamanoramā* takes *kāṇḍa* and *daṇḍa* to be synonymous with a length of 16 *hastas* or 27 ft. The Jātakas mention the *Rajjugāhaka* officers connected with land-surveying (*Kurudhama Jat.* III 276). 1 *rajju* measure was equal to 10 *daṇḍas*. *Nivartanā* an ancient square measure for measuring the area of fields was equal to 3 *rajjus*. When *kāṇḍa* denoted merely a lineal measure it took the suffix *ṅīp*, as *dvikāṇḍī rajju*, but when a square measure or area of a field (*kshetrabhakti*) it took *ṭāp* in the feminine gender, as *dvi-kāṇḍā kshetrabhaktiḥ*.

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(6) *Kishku*. It is included in the *Gaṇa-pāṭha* of VI. 1. 157 (*Pāraskara-prabhṛitīni cha saṁjñāyam*), which on the authority of Patañjali (III. 96) may be taken as a genuine reading. According to the *Arthaśāstra*, *kishku* was = 32 *aṅgulas* (2 feet) in ordinary usage, but = 42 *aṅgulas* for sawyers and blacksmiths. It was a measure employed in connection with camping grounds, forts and palaces (*Arth.* II. 20). It is referred to in the Mahābhārata (Āraṇyakaparva, 126.29).

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(7) *Yojana* (V.1.74), a measure=4 *gorutas* or *krośas* =2,000 × 4 yards, or 4.54 British miles. (Cf. *Arth.* Trans. by Dr. Shamsastri, p. 118 with footnote).

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A summary of lineal measures is given below; those in Italics being from Pāṇini.

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Linked texts (5)

Aṣṭādhyāyī — Pāṇini, Sanskrit
Kauṭilīya Arthaśāstra — Kauṭilya, Sanskrit
Jātaka — Pāli
Mahābhārata — Vyāsa, Sanskrit
Padamañjarī (Pali) — Pāli