The Science of the Shulba: A Study in Early Hindu Geometry c17.58

c17.58

The above principle of the enlargement of a *Vedi* or an *Agni* by increasing the length of the unit of measure but without altering the numbers representing the spatial magnitudes, so as to keep the form similar to the original one, is found as early as the *Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa* (*c.* 2000 B.C.). It says, " as large as the *Agni* (is to be made), so large (should be made) its units of measure; and by so much one measures it in the same way (as before)."¹ To construct a *Vedi* 14 or 14 3/7 times as large as the *Mahāvedi*, and which will be similar to it, this *Brāhmaṇa* says :