Devanagari
द्वादशार्धपलोन्मानं चतुर्भिश्चतुरङ्गुलै: ।
स्वर्णमाषै: कृतच्छिद्रं यावत्प्रस्थजलप्लुतम् ॥ ९ ॥
Verse text
dvādaśārdha-palonmānaṁ
caturbhiś catur-aṅgulaiḥ
svarṇa-māṣaiḥ kṛta-cchidraṁ
yāvat prastha-jala-plutam
Synonyms
dvādaśa
—
ardha — six
;
pala
—
of the scale of weight
;
unmānam
—
measuring pot
;
caturbhiḥ
—
by weight of four
;
catuḥ
—
aṅgulaiḥ — four fingers by measure
;
svarṇa
—
of gold
;
māṣaiḥ
—
of the weight
;
kṛta
—
chidram — making a hole
;
yāvat
—
as long as
;
prastha
—
measuring one prastha
;
jala
—
plutam — filled by water .
Translation
The measuring pot for one nāḍikā, or daṇḍa, can be prepared with a six-pala-weight [fourteen ounce] pot of copper, in which a hole is bored with a gold probe weighing four māṣa and measuring four fingers long. When the pot is placed on water, the time before the water overflows in the pot is called one daṇḍa.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
The measuring pot for one nāḍikā, or daṇḍa, can be prepared with a six-pala-weight [fourteen ounce] pot of copper, in which a hole is bored with a gold probe weighing four māṣa and measuring four fingers long. When the pot is placed on water, the time before the water overflows in the pot is called one daṇḍa or nāḍikā.
This verse defines the length of the nāḍikā. Unmānam means that by which something is measured. Here it refers to a copper pot weight of six palas. Sixty-four māśas make one pala. One should make a hole in the pot using a gold needle four fingers in length and weighting four māṣas. Five guṣjas make one māṣa. The time it takes forl one prastha of water to enter the vessel and fill it is a nāḍikā. If the weight of the vessel is more or the hole is larger, the pot will sink more quickly. If the vessel is lighter and the hole smaller, the pot will sink more slowly. Thus the exact weight of the pot and the size of the hole are specified. If the needle is made of silver and the same length and weight, the hole will be bigger.
Purport
It is advised herein that the bore in the copper measuring pot must be made with a probe weighing not more than four
māṣa
and measuring not longer than four fingers. This regulates the diameter of the hole. The pot is submerged in water, and the overflooding time is called a
daṇḍa.
This is another way of measuring the duration of a
daṇḍa,
just as time is measured by sand in a glass. It appears that in the days of Vedic civilization there was no dearth of knowledge in physics, chemistry or higher mathematics. Measurements were calculated in different ways, as simply as could be done.