Yantras or Mechanical Contrivances in Ancient India c2.24

c2.24

The word "*yantra*" is derived from the root *yam*, to control, and has been freely used in ancient India for any contrivance; some very simple ones are commonly known: the water-pulley in the well was called *Ghaṭīyantra*; an oil-presser was *Taila-yantra*; a cane-presser was *Ikṣhu-yantra*; ploughs, water-lifts and even weighing balances were referred to as *yantras* (*Arthaśāstra* II. 19; II. 24); and in Tamil even the stone grain-grinder is referred to by the Tamil form of the same name "*entiram*." These should not lead us to think that very complicated mechanisms were not evolved by the ancients.