The Science of the Shulba: A Study in Early Hindu Geometry c10.55

c10.55

The Method III is taught by Āpastamba⁴ and Manu.⁵ The latter emphasizes that it should be exclusively used in all cases of the construction of a square on a given straight line.¹ This method is also applied by Kātyāyana.² It may be noted that the cord used in the course of the construction is called in the *Mānava Śulba* by the technical name *pañcāṅgi* ("five-jointed"), because it has five (*pañca*) joints (*aṅga*), *viz.*, two ties and three marks. The rope has been sometimes called *pātinī* ("that which is laid out") because measurements are made by laying (*pāta*) it out on the ground.