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Weights and Measures-1 : Mass and Volume Units : 265
given in Table 9 according to A. D. S. Gunja becomes the base here. 96 G has been taken to be equal to weight of one gold coin prior to decimalisation of weights in India. Now as one gold coin is equal to one 'Tolā' or roughly 11.6 g, one unit G = 11.6/96 = 0.121 g. On the basis of this value of G, one can find out the current equivalent of different canonical weights. However, it seems difficult to do so in view of Table 6 where tolā unit varies between 72-96 G. One has therefore to refer to some most common values given in literature and overlook others. For example, if G is taken as 0.121 g, the Suvarna coin will have a value of 9.68 g, which is sufficiently less than the weight of standard 'tolā' ( 11.6 g) of today. This discrepancy has arisen as the value of Karma-masaka here is only 5 G rather than 6 Gas in Table 5. Thus, these standard weights are discordant with earlier units. It should be 'sat-gunjão' in place of 'pañca guñjāo' in A. D. S.20. This is a case of intracontradictions in canon-like books. Many such examples have been cited on many topics by Shastri2. Table 9: Model weights in A. D. S. Units
Equivalence Current Value 1. Guñjā, G
0.121 g 2. Kākini, KK
1.25 G
0.151 g 3. Nispava, Np
1.33 KK
0.200 g 4. Karma-masaka, KM 3 Np = 4KK = 5G 0.605 g 5. Mandalaka, Md 12KM = 48 KK 7.260 g 6. Suvarna ( Gold Coin ) 16KM = 64 KK 9.68 g
it is, thus, seen that the weight and volume units mentioned in Jaina texts are smaller in value than the normal Magadhan values. They could have been based on 96 G = 1 K ( Karşa ) in place of 80 G = 1 K so that proper comparisons could be made.
Secondly, it is observed that the Jainācāryas have not used their extraordinary interpolation and extrapolation technic
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