Duration of kalA

[Artur Karp]

At 00:52 9.10.99 -0400, Sudalaimuthu Palaniappan wrote:
>Dear Indologists,
>I have some questions regarding the time unit kalai (Ta.)/kalA (Skt.). and
vik
>alai (Ta.)/vikalA (Skt.). Tamil lexicon and MMW define these terms as given
>below.
>
>
>Tamil Lexicon gives the following
>-----------------------------------------------
>kalai
>...5. indian hour =1/60 of a 1/30 of a zodiacal sign; 6. a time measure;
>
>vikalai
>1. the Indian hour of 24 minutes; 2. second of a degree=1/60 kalai
>
>
>MMW gives the following
>-----------------------------------------------
>kalA
>-------
>f. (etym. doubtful) a small part of anything , any single part or portion of
>a whole , esp. a sixteenth part RV. viii , 47 , 17 TS. ZBr. Mn. &c. ; a digit
>or one-sixteenth of the moon's diameter Hit. KathAs. ... ; a symbolical
>expression for the number sixteen Hcat.; ...a division of time (said to be
>1/900 of a day or 1.6 minutes Mn. i , 64 Hariv. ; or 1/1800 of a day or 0.8
>minutes Comm. on VP. ; or 2 minutes and 26 and  54/201 seconds Suzr. ; or 1
>minute and 35 and 205/301 seconds , or 8 seconds BhavP.) ; the sixtieth part
>of one-thirtieth of a zodiacal sign , a minute of a degree sUryas....
>
>vikalA - the 60th part of a kalA, the second of a degree, sUryas.


I would be interested to know what is the relation of vikala to vipala?
Vipala is described by G.R. Kaye (in his Hindu Astronomy, Calcutta 1924, p.
122) as equal to 0,1' = 0,4 sec = 1/216000 part of day.

With regards,

Artur Karp
University of Warsaw
Poland



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