Three/four watches

[Michio YANO]

Dr Peter G. Friedlander wrote:

Peter> There are three watches in the night in the Pali Canon account of the
Peter> Buddha's enlightenment.
Peter> By the medieval period Indian time used four watches, as in Hindi poetry
Peter> about the asta-jam, eight watches of life (night and day)
Peter> Any ideas when India switched from three to four watches for the night?

I forwarded this message to Prof. S R Sarma of Aligarh who is
now at hand in Kyoto.  H sent me an answer as follows:

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Dear Prof. Yano,

The day is divided into 4 praharas and the night into 4 yaamas.  However,
the first and last half yaamas of the night are not taken into account
because there is light enough immediately after the sun and before sunrise
for people to engage in various activities.  Thus there remain three yaamas
when it is really dark.  And hence the night is called tri-yaamaa in
Sanskrit;  and various monastic orders perform rituals in these three
yaamas.

S. R. Sarma
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I hope this answer helps.

Michio YANO                    Tel +81-75-705-1781
Faculty of Cultural Studies    Fax +81-75-705-1799
Kyoto Sangyo University        e-mail: yanom at cc.kyoto-su.ac.jp
Kyoto 603-8555 Japan           http://www.kyoto-su.ac.jp/~yanom/