History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v6.c82.53.2

v6.c82.53.2

winking of the eye) is defined by the Vāyu and Viṣṇudharmottara as the time required for pronouncing a short letter and the latter adds that a smaller unit than it cannot be (physically) apprehended. There is great divergence of views about the number and names of the minute units of time and their mutual relations. A few examples alone can be cited. Manu (I. 64) furnishes the following table: 18 nimeṣas = kāṣṭhā, 30 kāṣṭhās = kalā, 30 kalās = muhūrta, 30 muhūrtas = ahorātra (day and night). The Arthaśāstra⁶⁸¹ of Kauṭilya provides. 2 truṭas (i?) = lava, 2 lavas = nimeṣa, five nimeṣas = kāṣṭhā, 30 kāṣṭhās = kalā, 40 kalās = nāḍīkā, 2 nāḍīkās = muhūrta, 30 muhūrtas = ahorātra Some of the purāṇas contain the same⁶⁸² verse on the names and relations of small units of time viz 15 nimeṣas = kāṣṭhā, 30 kāṣṭhās = kalā, 40 kalās = nāḍikā, 2 nāḍikās = muhūrta, 30 muhūrtas = day and night together. It should be noticed that here the relation of nimeṣas to kāṣṭhā is different from that in Manu and Kauṭilya. The Arthaśāstra⁶⁸³ of Kauṭilya does not stand alone in speaking of *truti* (*ṭṛṭi*) as the smallest unit of time. The Sūryasiddhānta (quoted above) provides that truṭi is the smallest unit of time, that it is *amūrta* (not apprehended physically), that the prāṇa is the first *mūrta* (physically apprehended) unit of time, that 6 prāṇas are equal to a vināḍī, that 60 vināḍīs are equal to a nāḍikā, 60 nāḍīs are equal to an ahorātra. Utpala⁶⁸⁴ on Bṛ. S.