|
Kos (unit)
The kos (), also spelled ''coss'', ''koss'', ''kosh'', koh(in Punjabi), ''krosh'', and ''krosha'', is a unit of measurement which is derived from a Sanskrit term, , which means a 'call', as the unit was supposed to represent the distance at which another human could be heard. It is an ancient Indian subcontinental standard unit of distance, in use since at least 4 BCE. According to the Arthashastra, a or is about . Another conversion is based on the Mughal emperor Akbar, who standardized the unit to 5000 '' guz'' in the Ain-i-Akbari. The British in India standardized Akbar's ''guz'' to , making the ''kos'' approximately . Another conversion suggested a ''kos'' to be approximately 2 English miles. Arthashastra Standard units The ''"Arthashastra'': Chapter XX. "Measurement of space and time", authored in 4th century BC by Chanakya (Vishnugupta Kauṭilya), sets this standard breakup of Indian units of length: * 1 angul (approximate width of a finger) = approx. * 4 angul = ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arthashastra
''Kautilya's Arthashastra'' (, ; ) is an Ancient Indian Sanskrit treatise on statecraft, politics, economic policy and military strategy. The text is likely the work of several authors over centuries, starting as a compilation of ''Arthashastras'', texts which according to Olivelle date from the 2nd c. BCE to the 1st c. CE. These treatises were compiled and amended in a new treatise, according to McClish and Olivelle in the 1st century CE by either an anonymous author or Kautilya, though earlier and later dates have also been proposed. While often regarded as created by a single author, McClish and Olivelle argue that this compilation, possibly titled ''Daņdanīti'', served as the basis for a major expansion and redaction in the 2nd or 3rd century CE by either Kautilya or an anonymous author, when several books, dialogical comments, and the disharmonious chapter-division were added, and a stronger Brahmanical ideology was brought in. The text thus became a proper ''arthashast ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grand Trunk Road
Grand Trunk Road (formerly known as Uttarapath, Sadak-e-Azam, Shah Rah-e-Azam, Badshahi Sadak, and Long Walk) is one of Asia's oldest and longest major roads. For at least 2,500 years it has linked Central Asia to the Indian subcontinent. It runs roughly from Teknaf, Bangladesh on the border with Myanmar west to Kabul, Afghanistan, passing through Chittagong and Dhaka in Bangladesh, Kolkata, Kanpur, Agra, Aligarh, Delhi, Amritsar, Chandigarh, Prayagraj in India, and Lahore, Rawalpindi, and Peshawar in Pakistan. The highway was built along an ancient route called Uttarapatha in the 3rd century BCE, extending it from the mouth of the Ganges to the north-western frontier of India. Further improvements to this road were made under Ashoka. The old route was re-aligned by Sher Shah Suri to Sonargaon and Rohtas.Vadime Elisseeff, p. 159-162The Silk Roads: Highways of Culture and Commerce/ref> The Afghan end of the road was rebuilt under Mahmud Shah Durrani. The road was considerabl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Indian Science And Technology
After independence, Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister of India, initiated reforms to promote higher education and science and technology in India. The Indian Institutes of Technology, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)—conceived by a 22-member committee of scholars and entrepreneurs in order to promote technical education—was inaugurated on 18 August 1951 at Kharagpur in West Bengal by the Minister of Education (India), minister of education Maulana Abul Kalam Azad. More IITs were soon opened in Bombay, Madras, Kanpur and Delhi as well in the late 1950s and early 1960s along with the Regional Engineering Colleges (RECs) (now National Institutes of Technology (NIT). Beginning in the 1960s, close ties with the Soviet Union enabled the ISRO, Indian Space Research Organisation to rapidly develop the Indian space program and advance nuclear power in India even after Smiling Buddha, the first nuclear test explosion by India on 18 May 1974 at Pokhran. India accounts fo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Indian Mathematics
Indian mathematics emerged in the Indian subcontinent from 1200 BCE until the end of the 18th century. In the classical period of Indian mathematics (400 CE to 1200 CE), important contributions were made by scholars like Aryabhata, Brahmagupta, Bhaskara II, Varāhamihira, and Madhava of Sangamagrama, Madhava. The Decimal, decimal number system in use today: "The measure of the genius of Indian civilisation, to which we owe our modern (number) system, is all the greater in that it was the only one in all history to have achieved this triumph. Some cultures succeeded, earlier than the Indian, in discovering one or at best two of the characteristics of this intellectual feat. But none of them managed to bring together into a complete and coherent system the necessary and sufficient conditions for a number-system with the same potential as our own." was first recorded in Indian mathematics. Indian mathematicians made early contributions to the study of the concept of 0 (number), ze ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hindu Cosmology
Hindu cosmology is the description of the universe and its states of matter, cycles within time, physical structure, and effects on living entities according to Hindu texts. Hindu cosmology is also intertwined with the idea of a creator who allows the world to exist and take shape. Substance All matter is based on three inert ''Guṇa, gunas'' (qualities or tendencies):James G. Lochtefeld, Guna, in The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism: A-M, Vol. 1, Rosen Publishing, , pages 224, 265, 520Theos Bernard (1999), ''Hindu Philosophy'', Motilal Banarsidass, , pages 74–76 * ''sattva'' (goodness) * ''rajas'' (passion) * ''Tamas (philosophy), tamas'' (darkness) There are three states of the ''gunas'' that make up all matter in the universe: * ''pradhana'' (root matter): ''gunas'' in an unmixed and unmanifested state (equilibrium). * ''Prakṛti, prakriti'' (primal matter): ''gunas'' in a mixed and unmanifested state (agitated). * ''mahat-tattva'' (matter or Hiranyagarbha, univers ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hindu Calendar
The Hindu calendar, also called Panchangam, Panchanga (), is one of various lunisolar calendars that are traditionally used in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, with further regional variations for social and Hindu religious purposes. They adopt a similar underlying concept for timekeeping based on sidereal year for solar cycle, solar cycle and adjustment of lunar cycles in every three years, but differ in their relative emphasis to moon cycle or the sun cycle and the names of months and when they consider the New Year to start. Of the various regional calendars, the most studied and known Hindu calendars are the Shaka era, Shalivahana Shaka (Based on the Shalivahana, King Shalivahana, also the Indian national calendar) found in the Deccan Plateau, Deccan region of Southern India and the Vikram Samvat (Bikrami) found in Nepal and the North and Central regions of India – both of which emphasize the lunar cycle. Their new year starts in spring. In regions such as Tamil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hindu Astronomy
Astronomy has a long history in the Indian subcontinent, stretching from pre-historic to modern times. Some of the earliest roots of Indian astronomy can be dated to the period of Indus Valley civilisation or earlier. Astronomy later developed as a discipline of Vedanga, or one of the "auxiliary disciplines" associated with the study of the Vedas dating 1500 BCE or older. The oldest known text is the ''Vedanga Jyotisha'', dated to 1400–1200 BCE (with the extant form possibly from 700 to 600 BCE). Indian astronomy was influenced by Greek astronomy beginning in the 4th century BCEHighlights of Astronomy, Volume 11B: As presented at the XXIIIrd General Assembly of the IAU, 1997. Johannes Andersen Springer, 31 January 1999 – Science – 616 pages. p. 72/ref>Babylon to Voyager and Beyond: A History of Planetary Astronomy. David Leverington. Cambridge University Press, 29 May 2010 – Science – 568 pages. p. 4/ref>The History and Practice of Ancient Astronomy. James ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
History Of Measurement Systems In India
The history of measurement systems in India begins in early Indus Valley civilisation with the earliest surviving samples dated to the 3rd millennium BCE.Iwata, 2254 Since early times the adoption of standard weights and measures has reflected in the country's Indian architecture, architectural, Folk culture, folk, and History of metallurgy in the Indian subcontinent, metallurgical artifacts. A complex system of weights and measures was adopted by the Maurya empire (322–185 BCE), which also formulated regulations for the usage of this system. Later, the Mughal empire (1526–1857) used standard measures to determine land holdings and collect land tax as a part of Mughal land reforms. The formal metrication in India is dated to 1 October 1958 when the Indian Government adopted the International System of Units, International System of Units (SI). Early history Standard weights and measures were developed by the Indus Valley Civilization. The centralised weight and me ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Indian Weights And Measures
Before the introduction of the metric system, one may divide the history of Indian systems of measurement into three main periods: the pre-Akbar period, the period of the Akbar system, and the British colonial period. During the Indian pre ancient period, weights and measure systems varied from region to region, commodity to commodity, and rural to urban areas. The weights were based on the weight of various seeds (in particular the wheat berry and Ratti) and lengths were based on the length of arms and width of fingers. During his reign, the Mughal emperor Akbar realized a need for a uniform system, and used the weight of the barley corn as a standard. This did not replace the existing system; rather, it simply added another system of measurement. When the British first began trading in India, they accepted barley corn as a unit for weighing gold. Eventually, the British introduced their own system for weighing gold. In 1956, the government of independent India passed the S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hindu Units Of Time
Hindu units of time are described in Hindu texts ranging from microseconds to trillions of years, including cycles of cosmic time that repeat general events in Hindu cosmology. Time ( ) is described as eternal. Various fragments of time are described in the Vedas, ''Manusmriti'', ''Bhagavata Purana'', '' Vishnu Purana'', ''Mahabharata'', '' Surya Siddhanta'' etc. Sidereal metrics Sidereal astrology maintains the alignment between signs and constellations via corrective systems of Hindu (Vedic)-origin known as ayanamsas (Sanskrit: '''ayana''' "movement" + '''aṃśa "component"), to allow for the observed precession of equinoxes, whereas tropical astrology ignores precession. This has caused the two systems, which were aligned around 2,000 years ago, to drift apart over the centuries. Ayanamsa systems used in Hindu astrology (also known as Vedic astrology) include the Lahiriayanamsa and the Raman ayanamsa. The Fagan-Bradley ayanamsa is an example of an ayanamsa system used ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vedic Metre
Vedic metre refers to the poetic metre in the Vedic literature. The study of Vedic metre, along with post-Vedic metre, is part of Chandas, one of the six Vedanga disciplines. Overview In addition to these seven, there are fourteen less frequent syllable-based metres (''Varna-vritta'' or ''Akshara-chandas''): :8. ''Atijagati'' (13x4); 9. ''Śakkarī'' (14x4); 10. ''Atiśakarī '' (15x4); 11. ''Ashṭi'' (16x4); :12. ''Atyashti'' (17x4); 13. ''Dhritī '' (18x4); 14. ''Atidhritī'' (19x4); 15. ''Kṛiti'' (20x4); :16. ''Prakṛiti'' (21x4); 17. ''Ākṛiti'' (22x4): 18. ''Vikṛiti'' (23x4); 19. '' Śankṛiti'' (24x4); :20. ''Atikṛiti'' (25x4); 21. ''Utkṛiti'' (26x4). Note: all metres have several varieties (from 2 to 30 depending on the case). :There is also the metre called ''Dandaka'' which is the general name given to other metres of this class exceeding the measure (26x4) of ''Utkriti'' (''Dandaka'' is the No. 22 on the list compiled by H.H. Wilson). There are sev ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Palya
A palya is a length of time used in Jainism to describe when the Lord Adinath ("First Lord") came to India, 100,000,000,000,000 palyas ago.Pratt, James B. (1917). Book review, The Harvard Theological Review', Vol. X, p.303. Harvard University Press. .Sharma, Suresh K. and Sharma, Usha (2004). ''Cultural and Religious Heritage of India: Jainism'', p.85. Mittal Publications. . A palya is defined as the time it takes to build a cube of lambswool 1 (or possibly 100) yojans high (between 4 and 9 miles or 6.4 km and 14.5 km), if one strand was laid down every century. The concept of Palya was born of the desire to quantify relative dimensions in time and space in proportion to the achievement of Nirvana or some similar enlightened state. See also * Rajju *Religious cosmology *Hindu cosmology *Jain cosmology Jain cosmology is the description of the shape and functioning of the Universe (''loka'') and its constituents (such as living beings, matter, space, time etc.) acc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
