No. 43. — 1892.] WEIGHTS AND measures. 



183 



The Bhaisajjaya Kalpa gives :— 



1,000 dhanu = 1 kosa 



3 kosas — 1 gavva 



4 gav = 1 yoduna 

 8,000 dunu are also given as equal to a yoduna. 



According to another measurement : — 



500 dunu = 1 krosa 



4 krosa = 1 yoduna 



Pridham says that 9 viyat are equal to one dunna, about 

 9 English feet, and 500 dunu are equal to a hetekma. 



According to another authority 2 fathoms are equal to a 

 dunna, and the Abhiddhdnapadipika gives 500 dunu, or 

 bows, as the equivalent of one krosa. 



The space enclosed by the arms placed horizontally, the 

 elbows kept by the side, is called atpasa. Four riyan, or 

 cubits, make one bamba. A bamba, or fathom, is equal to 

 the space between the arms extended, a man's reach (porisha, 

 Sanskrit; purusha pramanaya, Sinhalese), equal to the 

 height to which he reaches when elevating both arms with 

 fingers extended,* 



Davy says that bamba and bandar a bamba (employed by 

 the king to measure roads), which were occasionally used, 

 were more precise measures of distance. The former was 

 considered equal to the space between the arms extended, 

 measuring from the tips of the fingers, and was about 6 feet, 

 and the latter, about 9 feet, was the height to which a man 

 could reach above his head with his hand. Five hundred 

 banddra bamba were equal to a hetekma. 



A hetekma is the distance supposed to be equal to an 

 English mile, hetekma or setepma, that is, the distance which 

 a man carrying a load can travel in one stretch, after which 

 he wants a little rest and breathing time, hati erima. 



28 ratanas 

 7 ratanas 

 20 yastis 

 20 isbhas 



1 abhatura 



1 yasti, yatali, or pole 

 1 isbha 

 1 hetekma 



Colebrooke's Amarakosha. p. 160. 13 



