Bīrūnī, Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad, Alberuni's India (v. 1)

(London :  Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co.,  1910.)

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  Page 165  



CHAPTER XV.                              165

Therefore the balance is called tuld. The first lines
mean the units of the weight from i to 5, and farther
on to 10; the following lines mean the tenths, 10, 20,
30, &c. With regard to the cause of this arrangement
they relate the following saying of Vasudeva:—•

" I will not kill Sisupala, the son of my aunt, if he
has not committed a crime, but will pardon him until
ten, and then I shall call him to account."

We shall relate this story on a later opportunity.

Alfazari uses in his astronomical handbook the word
jjala for day-minutes (i.e. sixtieth parts of a day). I have
not found this use anywhere in Hindu literature, but
they use the word to denote a correction in a mathe¬
matical sense.

The Hindus have a weight called hhdra, which is
mentioned in the books about the conquest of Sindh,
It is equal to 2000 pala; for they explain it by 100 x
20 pala, and as nearly equal to the weight of an ox.

This is all I have lighted on as regards Hindu
weights.

By measuring (with dry measures) people determine ury
the body and the bulk of a thing, if it fills up a certain
measure which has been gauged as containing a certain
quantity of it, it being understood that the way in Page 79.
which the things are laid out in the measure, the way
in which their surface is determined, and the way in
which, on the whole, they are arranged within the
measure, are in every case identical. If two objects
which are to be weighed belong to the same species,
they then prove to be equal, not only in bulk, but also
in weight; but if they do not belong to the same species,
their bodily extent is equal, but not their weight.

They have a measure called bisi (? sibi), which is
mentioned by every man from i-vanauj and Somanath,
According to the people of Kanauj—

4 hist — I prastha.
\ hist — I kudava.
  Page 165