Indian Antiquary Vol 26

SR No.: 032518
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Richard Carnac Temple
Publisher: Swati Publications
Publication Year: 1984
Total Pages: 360
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 15 MB

Page 324

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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[DECEMBER, 1897.
Colebrooke remarks (Essays, Vol. II. p. 529) that "factitious ratis in common use should be double of the gunja-seed: however they weigh less than two grains and a quarter, or, as he says on the same page, 3 3/16 = 2.1875 grs. Again, p. 532, he quotes the tables in Gladwin's Ayeen Akbaree, Vol. III. p. 94, where "six jeweller's rattis are equal to eight double rattis as used by the goldsmiths." It seems to me to be a fair inference to make, that here, too, there is a reference to a double sense of the word rati, according as it originally referred to a latural weight based on the Alrus or the Adenanthera seed.
Prinsep and Tuomas, Useful Tables, Vol. II. p. 110, were able to discard ail reference to ancient Indian weights, merely referring the reader to Colebrooke; but as the Indian standards probably spread Eastward at a period reaching centuries back, I cannot afford to do so in the present pages.
Colebrooke remarks on his tables of bullion weights, that not only did the commentators on Sanskrit works differ as to the application of the several terms but that they were also used to describe other weights. He points out that the másha was made to consist of 2, 4, 5, 10, 12, and 16 raktikás, and the jeweller's másha of 6 and 8 double ratis. One is therefore forced to make a selection of some kind for the present parpose, and with reference to what follows I select here the tables given by Colebrooke as being on the authority of Manu, Yajñavalkya and Narada."
Weights of Gold. 5 raktikas (krishnalas) are 1 måsba (másbaka, mashika) 16 mashas
, 1 karsha (aksha, tolaka, savarna) 4 karshas
» 1 pala (nishka) 10 palas
» 1 dharana
Weights of Silver. 2 raktikas
are 1 mashaks 16 mashakas
» 1 dharaņa (purâņa) 10 dharanas
1 pala (satamâna)
Weights of Copper. 80 raktikas
are 1 paņa (kârshipana) In the gold and silver weights, the tables both work out to the fact that 920 raktikas are 1 pala, of capital importance in tracing the connection of the weight tables of the Far East with those of India.
Bhaskaricharya's Lildvati (Colebrooke's T., ed. by Banerji, p. 2) gives a table of precisely sunilar import for general use : -
5 guñjas are 1 masha 16 mashas, 1 karsha (suvarna)
4 karshas, 1 pala That is 320 raktikas = 1 pala for ordinary purposes.
Burmese Weights. Having thas considered what the rati (raktiká, krishnala, and what not) actually is. or rather, to speak more cautiously and safely, what it is likely to be in reality; having also
See Asiatic Researches, Vol. V. p. 93 I., where the spelling of the Indian words is far more picturesque, if not 40 accurate, as the above.