Yojana
A Yojana (Sanskrit : योजन ) is a Vedic measure of distance used in ancient India. The exact measurement is disputed amongst scholars with distances being given between 6 to 15 kilometers (4 to 9 miles).
In modern Nepali and Hindi yojana (Hindi : योजना ) also means "plan" or blueprint and has an interesting connection with the Cartesian notion of distance.
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[edit] Variations on length
The length of the Yojana varied depending on the different standards adopted by different Indian astronomers. It was taken to be the distance covered by an ox cart in one day. In the Surya Siddhanta of the 5th century, for example, a Yojana was equivalent to 5 miles,[1] and the same was true for Aryabhata's Aryabhatiya (499).[2] By the time of Paramesvara in the 14th century, the Yojana was more than 1.5 times larger than it was in Aryabhata's time, thus a Yojana was equivalent to at least 8 miles by Paramesvara's time.[1]
Religious leader A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada gives the equivalent length of a yojana as 8 miles (13 km) [3] throughout his translations of the Bhagavata Purana. Some traditional Indian scholars give measurements between 13 km and 16 km (8-10 miles) or thereabouts.[citation needed] Alexander Cunningham, in The Ancient Geography of India, takes a yojana to mean 8 miles.
[edit] Usage
If the length of a Yojana is taken to be approximately 8 to 10 miles (13-16 km), like it was in later times, then its subsidiary measurements are as follows:
- 1 angula = 16 mm to 21 mm
- 4 angulas = one dhanu graha (bow grip) = 62 mm to 83 mm;
- 8 angulas = one dhanu musti (fist with thumb raised) = 125 mm to 167 mm;
- 12 angulas = 1 vitasti (handspan: distance between tip of thumb and tip of last finger when palm is stretched) = 188 mm to 250 mm
- 2 vitastis = 1 aratni (cubit) = 375 mm to 500 mm
- 4 aratnis = 1 danda = 1.5 to 2.0 m
- 2 dandas = 1 dhanu = 3 to 4 m
- 5 dhanus = 1 rajju = 15 m to 20 m
- 2 rajjus = 1 paridesha = 30 m to 40 m
- 100 parideshas = 1 krosha (or gorata) = 3 km to 4 km
- 4 kroshas = 1 yojana = 13 km to 16 km
- 1,000 yojanas = 1 Mahayojan = 13 Mm to 16 Mm
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b Richard Thompson (1997), "Planetary Diameters in the Surya-Siddhanta", Journal of Scientific Exploration 11 (2): 193–200 [196]
- ^ O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., "Aryabhata I", MacTutor History of Mathematics archive, University of St Andrews, http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Aryabhata_I.html.
- ^ Srimad Bhagavatam 10.57.18 (translation) "one yojana measures about eight miles"
[edit] Further reading
- The Artha Shaastra of Kautilya, Penguin Books
- Valmiki Ramayana
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