[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Science, technology and education](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science) › [The Science of the Shulba: A Study in Early Hindu Geometry](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.datta-1932) › c8.81 # The Science of the Shulba: A Study in Early Hindu Geometry c8.81 The Science of the Śulba: A Study in Early Hindu Geometry c8.81 - **Language:** English ### [c8.81](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.datta-1932.c8.81) This is, in fact, the square pit, with the earth from which the \*Uttara-vedi\* is constructed. Hence both have the same cubical content. This measurement of the pit reappears in the \*Sulba\*. It is, perhaps, particularly noteworthy, that in the above we find an instance of the use, in former times, of a ruler (in the body of the straight wooden pin, called the \*śamyā\*) to draw a straight line from a given point in a specified direction. It is not said how those directions, or rather the cardinal directions passing through a point were used to be determined. Was a pair of compasses also in use then? - [Previous: c8.80](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.datta-1932.c8.80) - [Next: c8.82](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.datta-1932.c8.82) - [Up: c8](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.datta-1932.c8) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.datta-1932.c8.81](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.datta-1932.c8.81) · Pramāṇa