Hayashi, Takao. 2017. “The Units of Time in Ancient and Medieval India.” History of Science in South Asia 5 (1): 1–116. doi:10.18732/h2ht0h.

Best regards,

Bill

--
Bill M. Mak, PhD

Professor of History of Science

University of Science and Technology of China
Room A304, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, East Campus,
University of Science and Technology of China,
96 Jinzhai Road, Baohe District, Hefei, Anhui,
China CN-230026

Tel.: +86 183 5614 9163 / +852 9466 6472
E-Mail: billmak@ustc.edu.cn / bmpmak@gmail.com

Research Associate
Needham Research Institute
8 Sylvester Road
Cambridge, CB3 9AF
United Kingdom

Tel:+44-1223768229
Email: bm574@cam.ac.uk

Copies of my publications may be found at:
http://www.billmak.com
https://needham.academia.edu/BillMak

On 3 May 2025, at 19:44, Harry Spier via INDOLOGY <indology@list.indology.info> wrote:

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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