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258 : Scientific Contents in Prākta Canons
It is pointed out that there were two prominent types of such measures current in early periods - (i) Magadhan measures and (ii) Kalingan measures. The first ones were more popular and Jaina canons have followed them. The Kalingan measures had somewhat smaller values for their unit of Karsa
(= 1 tolā, 0.83 of Magadhan value ) in the end. These measures are found in Ayurvedic texts also. Vāgbhața coordinated these measures later but canons have only Magadhan measures". (a) Māna and Avamāna
The measures of Māna and Avamāna seem to be the most important in canonical periods. Both of them measure volumes. However, volumes and weights have been related at some stage so that one could express one measure into another measure without involving the concept of density.
The A. D. S. describes 'Māna' into two classes — (i) grains measure or measure of solids and ( ii ) fluid or liquid measure. It is said that the tip of the grains measure is pointed upwards while it is pointed downwards in case of liquids. This is an observation pointing out the quality of surface tension in liquids indirectly.
The first unit of grains measure is 'Asati' - an equivalent of 'Pala' unit of Magadhan system according to Apte'8. Table 5 gives comparative details of solid measures in different systems. Table 6 indicates that though these measures follow basically Magadhan system, the quantitative nature of practical units seems to be different in many sects. The A. D. S. values are highest and nearly double the Magadhan ones and R. V. values are smallest in comparison. They are dependent on the relationship between 'pala' and 'Kudava' units which are varying in different system. The T. V.19 has given two types of unitsone the same as A. D. S. and the other one as different from A. D. S. One of the two seems to be an interpolation as it does not seem to be coherent when the value of 'Prastha' is calcu
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