Chandragupta Maurya and His Times c9.101

c9.101

**Records of Rainfall.** A meteorological forecast of the different countries seems to have been attempted. The Western coast [(beyond the Ghats), *Aparānta*] and the Himalayan tarais (*Haimanya*) were singled out, as now, for the heaviest rainfall, the country of the Aśmakas on the Godāvarī (or *Āraṭṭhas* of the Panjab and Avanti for moderate rainfall, and the deserts (*Jāṅgala*) for the lowest. We may note that arrangements for recording rainfall were known in those days. “In the central Store-House (*Koshṭhāgāra*), there was to be kept a vessel (*kuṇḍa*) whose mouth should be 1 *aratni* wide, to serve as rain gauge (*varsha-māna*)” [II. 5]. It may be noted that 1 *aratni* = 24 *aṅgulas* = 1½ ft. [II. 20]. Countries irrigated from artificial canals (*Kulyāvāpa*) were of course in no want of water.