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Mesopotamian water-clock in India (1)

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05 Scientific knowledge and scholarly lore




05 Scientific knowledge and scholarly lore



Keywords
time
water-clock
Period
Achaemenid Empire
Channel
Indian culture


Text
A post-Vedic Indian text employs a linear zig-zag function with a constant difference of one prastha a day to determine the amount of water to be poured into the water-clock for each period of daylight, with a minimum amount at the winter solstice, and the maximum amount at the summer solstice. The amount of water is the length of daylight itself, based on the Babylonian ratio 3:2 of the longest to the shortest day in the year, and unsuitable for latitudes in most of India.

Jyotiṣavedāṅga 7 (Ṛk Recension):
The increase in daylight and the decrease in night-time in the northern course (of the Sun) is a prastha of water, in he southern course it is the reverse. Six muhūrtas in an ayana.


Source (list of abbreviations)
Jyotiṣavedāṅga 7 (Ṛk Recension)

Bibliography

Pingree 1973, 3Pingree, David. “The Mesopotamian Origin of Early Indian Mathematical Astronomy.” Journal for the History of Astronomy 4 (1973) 1-12.
Pingree 1998, 130Pingree, David. “Legacies in Astronomy and Celestial Omens.” In: S. Dalley (ed.). The Legacy of Mesopotamia. Oxford: Oxford University Press 1998, 125-137.

Links (external links will open in a new browser window)
Cf. Mesopotamian water-clock in India (2)

Amar Annus


URL for this entry: http://www.aakkl.helsinki.fi/melammu/database/gen_html/a0000176.php


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