The Science of the Shulba: A Study in Early Hindu Geometry c22.18

c22.18

A square is generally called *sama-caturasra* (*sama* = "equal"). It is oftentimes, of course when there is no chance of ambiguity the context being clear, shortened into *caturasra*,¹ and occasionally even into simple *sama*.² Thibaut is responsible for the opinion that in the term *sama-caturasra*, the word *sama* refers to the equality of four sides and *caturasra* implies that the four angles of the figure are right angles.³ A more plausible interpretation would be that *sama* refers to the form or shape of the figure which is to be the same in every respect, *caturasra* implying a quadrangle or quadrilateral. It will then be consistent with the term *dīrgha-caturasra* for the rectangle,⁴ which signifies that the form of the *caturasra* is in this case *dīrgha* (or "longish"). The rectangle is sometimes called in short the *dīrgha*.⁵ The term for a quadrilateral of unequal sides is the *viṣama-caturasra* (literally, "inequilateral quadrilateral"). But in contradistinction from the *sama-caturasra* or the square, that term may denote also the rectangle.⁶