202 Cr. Thibaut — On the S'ulvasutras. [Xo. 3, 



loses it again when increased for the third time, and so on. When it is increas- 

 ed for the fourteenth time or, to put it in another way, when 256 bricks 

 have been laid down, the centre of the square coincides again with the cen- 

 tre of the agnikshetra, and it is again displaced from there when thirty-three 

 bricks more are added on the north and east side, and the whole square is 

 composed of 289 bricks. The whole agni was therefore slightly displaced, 

 and for this reason perhaps Baudhayana preferred not to call it a real 

 chaturas'ra, but a figure made out of a chaturasra of 256 bricks with the 

 addition of 33 bricks. There is reason for wonder that the displacement of 

 the agni was not remedied in some way ; it would have been a very easy 

 matter. 



■snVvc. ^r^35 irwr: i 



The sixteen middle bricks form the nave of the wheel. 



We must remember that the bricks mentioned here are only used for 

 measuring out the agnikshetra, and consequently understand by the sixteen 

 middle bricks the area covered by them. In order to cut a square of the 

 required size out of the centre of the large square, the commentator directs 

 us to fix poles in the centre of the four bricks forming the corners of the 

 square of twenty-five bricks situated in the middle of the large square and 

 to join these four poles by cords ; the area included by these cords is equal 

 to that of sixteen bricks. 



Sixty-four bricks form the spokes of the wheel, sixty-four the vedi. 



Out of the entire square of 289 bricks another square has to be cut 

 out, containing the area for the spokes and for the void spaces between the 

 spokes. This square would be equal to the area occupied by 141 bricks, 

 but we have to deduct from that the 16 bricks in the centre which consti- 

 tute the nave. Thus 128 bricks are divided equally between spokes and 

 interstices. The required square is cut out by poles being fixed in the 

 centre of the four bricks which form the corners of the square of 13 X 13 

 bricks and by joining the four poles with cords. 



The remaining bricks form the felloe of the wheel. — One hundred and 

 forty-four bricks having been employed for nave and spokes, one hundred 

 and forty-five remain for the felloe. The measurement of the agnikshetra 

 being finished therewith, the bricks used for measuring are no longer want- 

 ed. As result of the described proceeding we have three squares, the largest 

 of which encloses the two smaller ones. The smallest, situated in the centre, 

 is meant for the nave ; the two larger ones mark the interior and exterior 

 edges of the felloe. It remains to turn these three squares into circles. 



