Dear Harry,

This should be of help to you.

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,
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Research Associate
Needham Research Institute
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Tel:+44-1223768229
Email: bm574@cam.ac.uk

Copies of my publications may be found at:
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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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