Dear Harry,

A very interesting (though centennial) article about time is :
Fleet, « The Ancient Indian Water-Clock », JRAS (April 1915), and more recently, you have :
S.R.Sarma, « The Bowl that Sinks and Tells Time », The Archaïc and the Exotic.
There are many datas about time in the Vedāṅgajyotiṣa and Sūryaprajñapti, of which exist many editions with explanations. But, of course, these are not exactly premodern...

Best regards,

J.M.Delire


Le sam. 3 mai 2025 à 13:46, Harry Spier via INDOLOGY <indology@list.indology.info> a écrit :
Dear list members,
I've been asked to confirm the meaning of kalā in the premodern  Indian system of time units. 
 According this wikipedia page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindu_units_of_time
 referring to the  Sūrya Siddhānta, 1 kalā = 30 kāṣṭhā approximately equal to 48 seconds but I've also been told that 1 kalā  is about one hour of the western time units. Can someone confirm the meaning of  kalā in the Indian system of time units . Was there more than one system of time units in general use in premodern India?
Thanks,
Harry Spier

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