View source for Yojana

{{Short description|Measure of distance}}
{{About|the measurement unit|the government program|List of central government schemes in India}}
{{Infobox unit
| symbol        = 
| standard      = [[Arthashastra]]
| quantity      = [[length]]
| units1        = [[SI units]]
| inunits1      = {{val|12.8|ul=km}} <!-- based on standard used for the [[Kos (unit)]] wikipedia article -->; {{val|16|ul=km}} <!-- based on standard used for the [[Kos (unit)]] wikipedia article -->(in ancient [[Cambodia]])
| units2        = [[imperial units|Imperial]]/[[US customary units|US]]&nbsp;units
| inunits2      = {{val|2.7|ul=mile}}<br />
| units3        = 
| inunits3      = 
}}

A '''yojana''' ([[Devanagari]]: योजन; [[Khmer language]]: យោជន៍;<ref>{{Cite book |last=MISTI |url=https://misti.gov.kh/public/file/202107151626325399.pdf |title=រង្វាស់រង្វាល់ខ្មែរបុរាណនិងសម័យ |publisher=Ministry of Industry, Science, Technology & Innovation (MISTI) |year=2021 |edition=1st |pages=15}}</ref> {{langx|th|โยชน์}}; {{langx|my|ယူဇနာ}}) is a measure of [[distance]] that was used in ancient [[India]], [[Cambodia]], [[Thailand]] and [[Myanmar]]. Various textual sources from ancient India define Yojana as ranging from 3.5 to 15&nbsp;km.<ref name="decline">{{Cite book |last=Thapar |first=Romila |url=http://projects.mcah.columbia.edu/indianart/pdf/asoka_thapar.pdf |title=Aśoka and the decline of the Mauryas |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1997 |edition=Revised |pages=250–266}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Gupta |first=C. C. Das |date=1951 |title=A NOTE ON AN EXPRESSION IN ROCK EDICT XIII OF AŚOKA |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44303939 |journal=Proceedings of the Indian History Congress |volume=14 |pages=68–71 |jstor=44303939 |issn=2249-1937}}</ref>

==Edicts of Ashoka (3rd century BCE)==
[[Ashoka]], in his [[Major Rock Edicts|Major Rock Edict No.13]], gives a distance of 600 yojanas between the Maurya empire, and "where the [[Yona]] king named [[Antiochus II Theos|Antiyoga]] (is ruling)", identified as King [[Antiochus II Theos]], whose capital was [[Babylon]]. A range of estimates, for the length of a yojana, based on the ~2,000&nbsp;km from Baghdad to [[Kandahar]], on the eastern border of the empire, to the ~4,000&nbsp;km to the Capital at [[Patna]], have been offered by historians.<ref>[https://archive.org/stream/InscriptionsOfAsoka.NewEditionByE.Hultzsch/HultzschCorpusAsokaSearchable#page/n181/mode/2up Inscriptions of Asoka p.43]</ref><ref name="decline" />

{{blockquote |
....And this (conquest) has been won repeatedly by Devanampriya both [here] and among all (his) borderers, even as far as at (the distance of) six hundred yojanas where the [[Yona]] king named [[Antiochus II Theos|Antiyoga]] (is ruling), and beyond this Antiyoga, (where) four kings (are ruling), (viz, the king) named [[Ptolemy II of Egypt|Tulamaya]], (the king) named [[Antigonus II Gonatas|Antekina]], (the king) named [[Magas of Cyrene|Maka]], (and the king) named [[Alexander II of Epirus|Alikyashudala]], (and) likewise towards the south, (where) the [[Cholas]] and [[Pandyas]] (are ruling), as far as [[Tamraparni]].
|13th Major Rock Edict. Translation by [[E. Hultzsch]] (1857–1927).<ref>[https://archive.org/stream/InscriptionsOfAsoka.NewEditionByE.Hultzsch/HultzschCorpusAsokaSearchable#page/n181/mode/2up Inscriptions of Asoka p.43]. Published in India in 1925. Domain.</ref>
}}

==Yojana in geodesy==
{| class="wikitable"
|+Earth's diameter and/or circumference in yojanas as mentioned by classical Hindu astronomers{{Efn|Some cells are left empty because those astronomers did not explicitly give a value. The values not mentioned in the table can be approximated using the value of π prevalent during their period.|group=note}}
!
!Diameter
!Circumference 
|-
|[[Aryabhata]] (476–550 CE)
|1,050 yojana
|
|-
|[[Surya Siddhanta|''Surya Siddhānta'']]
|
|
|-
|[[Varāhamihira|Varahamihira]] (6th century CE)
|
|3,200 yojana
|-
|[[Bhāskara I]] (c. 600 – c. 680 CE)
|1,050 or 1600 yojana
|
|-
|[[Brahmagupta]] (<abbr>c.</abbr> 598 – <abbr>c.</abbr> 668 CE)
|1,581 yojana
|5,000 yojana
|-
|[[Bhāskara II]] (1114–1185 CE)
|1,581 yojana
|4,967 yojana
|-
|[[Nilakantha Somayaji]] (1444 – 1545 CE)
|
|3,300 yojana
|}

==Hindu units of length==

===Units===
In Hindu scriptures, [[Paramanu|Paramāṇu]] is the fundamental particle and smallest unit of length.
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Measurement
! Equals to... (in Hindu measurement)
! Notes
|-
| 8 to 30 Paramāṇus 
| 1 trasareṇu{{Efn|Trasareṇu is also known as ''Rathāreṇu'' or ''Rathadhuli''. Each scripture gives number of Paramāṇus in a Trasareṇu differently. In Ayurvedic scriptures, 1 Trasareṇu is 30 Paramāṇu; In [[Vastu shastra|Vasushastra]] texts, one Rathadhūli is 8 Paramāṇu <ref>{{Cite web |last=www.wisdomlib.org |date=2014-08-03 |title=Paramanu, Paramāṇu, Parama-anu: 30 definitions |url=https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/paramanu |access-date=2023-09-17 |website=www.wisdomlib.org |language=en}}</ref> |group=note}}
|As per ''[[Manusmriti]]'', one trasareṇu is the size of the smallest moving [[Dust|speck of dust]] visible to naked eye.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Jha |first=Ganganatha |date=2016-12-11 |title=Manusmriti Verse 8.132 |url=https://www.wisdomlib.org/hinduism/book/manusmriti-with-the-commentary-of-medhatithi/d/doc201047.html |access-date=2023-09-17 |website=www.wisdomlib.org |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Bühler |first=George |url=https://sacred-texts.com/hin/manu/manu08.htm |title=The Laws of Manu |chapter= |quote=}}</ref>{{Efn|''jālāntaragate bhānau yat sūkṣmaṃ dṛśyate rajaḥ {{!}} prathamaṃ tat pramāṇānāṃ trasareṇuṃ pracakṣate'' {{!}}{{!}}132 {{!}}{{!}}<br />
The small mote that is seen when the sun shines through a lattice-hole they declare to be the ‘triad,’ the very first of measures.—(132)}}
|-
| 8 trasarenu 
| 1 bālāgra (tip of a hair strand)  
|
|-
| 8 bālāgra  
| 1 likhsha (size of a [[wiktionary:nit#English|nit]])<ref>{{Cite web |title=लिक्षा |url=https://www.learnsanskrit.cc/translate?search=likSA&dir=se |website=learnsanskrit.cc}}</ref>{{Efn|As per ''[[Manusmriti]]'' and ''[[Arthashastra]]'', eight Trasareṇus equals one Liksha.|group=note}}
|
|-
| 8 liksha  
| 1 yūka (size of a [[louse]])<ref>{{Cite web |title=यूका |url=https://www.learnsanskrit.cc/translate?search=yUkA&dir=se |website=learnsanskrit.cc}}</ref>
|
|- 
| 8 yūka  
| 1 yava (width of [[barley]] grain of medium size)<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kalita |first=Kushal |date=2021-07-01 |title=The Matsya Purana (critical study) |url=https://www.wisdomlib.org/hinduism/essay/matsya-purana-critical-study/d/doc628496.html |access-date=2023-09-17 |website=www.wisdomlib.org |language=en}}</ref>
|
|-
| 8 yava 
| 1 [[aṅgula]] (finger-breadth) 
| Estimated between {{Convert|1.73|cm|inch|abbr=in}} to {{Convert|1.91|cm|in|abbr=in}}.<ref>{{Cite journal |title=Issues in Indian metrology, from Harappa to Bhāskarāchārya |url=https://asc.iitgn.ac.in/assets/publications/research_papers/Issues_in_Indian_Metrology_from_Harappa_to_Bhaskaracharya_M_Danino_2015.pdf |journal=Gaṇita Bhāratī |volume=37 |pages=125–143}}</ref>{{Efn|The angula is defined in the [[Śulbasūtras]] as the length covered by 14 grains of millet arranged width-wise; [[Kautilya]] and later authors prefer 8 grains of barley (yava).|group=note}}
|-
| 6 finger 
| 1 pada (the [[breadth]] of a foot)
| other sources define this unit differently: see [[Pada (foot)]]
|-
| 2 pada 
| 1 vitasti ([[span (unit)|span]] or distance between the tip of the forefinger and wrist)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Sanskrit Dictionary |url=https://www.sanskritdictionary.com/?q=vitasti}}</ref>
| ~ 22.86&nbsp;cm (9 inches)
|-
| 2 vitasti  
| 1 hasta ([[cubit]])
| ~ 45.7&nbsp;cm (18 inches)
|-
| 2 hasta 
| 1 náriká
|~ 91.5&nbsp;cm (36 inches / 3 feet)
|-
| 2 náriká
| 1 dhanu
|~ 183&nbsp;cm (72 inches / 6 feet) to 192&nbsp;cm ( 75.6 inches / 6 feet 3.5 inches)<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Shrivastava |first=Shailaj Kumar |date=2017 |title=MEASUREMENT UNITS OF LENGTH, MASS AND TIME IN INDIA THROUGH THE AGES |url=https://www.academia.edu/32739570/MEASUREMENT_UNITS_OF_LENGTH_MASS_AND_TIME_IN_INDIA_THROUGH_THE_AGES |journal=Self Published}}</ref>
|-
| 1 paurusa 
| [[human height|a man's height]] with arms and fingers uplifted (standing reach)<ref>{{Cite web |last= |date=2017-04-17 |title=Paurusha, Pauruṣa: 21 definitions |url=https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/paurusha |access-date=2023-04-28 |website=www.wisdomlib.org |language=en}}</ref>
|~ 192&nbsp;cm (75 inches)
|-
| 2,000 dhanu<ref>{{Cite web |last=Shamasastry |first=Rudrapatna |date=2020-01-09 |title=Kautilya Arthashastra Measurement of Space and Time [Chapter 20] |url=https://www.wisdomlib.org/hinduism/book/kautilya-arthashastra/d/doc366066.html#note-t-128561 |access-date=2023-09-17 |website=www.wisdomlib.org |language=en}}</ref>
| 1 gavyuti or gorutam (distance at which a cow's call or lowing can be heard) 
| ~ 3.66 to 3.84&nbsp;km
|-
| 4 gavyuti  
| 1 yojana
| ~ 15 kilometers<ref name=":0" />
|}

==Variations in length==
The length of the yojana varied over time and locale, its length  has been estimated as:
* {{convert|8|mi|km|abbr=on|disp=flip}} - 14th-century [[List of Indian mathematicians|mathematician]] [[Paramesvara]].<ref name="Thompson" /> 
* {{convert|8|mi|km|abbr=on|disp=flip}} - [[A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada]]<ref>[http://vedabase.com/sb/10/57/18 Srimad Bhagavatam 10.57.18 (translation)] "one yojana measures about eight miles"</ref> throughout his translations of the [[Bhagavata Purana]]. 
* {{convert|6.7|mi|km|abbr=on|disp=flip}} to {{convert|8.2|mi|km|abbr=on|disp=flip}} - From ''The Ancient Geography of India'', 1871, [[Alexander Cunningham]],  estimated by comparison with Chinese units of length.<ref>[[Alexander Cunningham]], [https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.180122/page/n611 <!-- pg=571 --> Measures of Distance. Yojana, Li, Krosa.] in ''The Ancient Geography of India: I. I. The Buddhist Period, Including the Campaigns of Alexander, and the Travels of Hwen-Thsang'', Trübner and Company, 1871, pp. 571–574</ref>
* {{convert|5|mi|km|abbr=on|disp=flip}} - 1997, Thompson, from dividing the earths diameter by the yojana circumferences offered In the ''[[Surya Siddhanta]]'' and ''[[Aryabhatiya]]'' (late 4th-century to 5th-century CE)<ref name="Thompson">{{citation|title=Planetary Diameters in the Surya-Siddhanta|author=Richard Thompson|journal=[[Journal of Scientific Exploration]]|volume=11|issue=2|pages=193–200 [196]|year=1997}}{{unreliable source?|date=February 2020}}</ref><ref>{{MacTutor Biography|id=Aryabhata_I|title=Aryabhata I}}</ref>

==See also==
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
*[[Hindu cosmology]]
*[[History of measurement systems in India]]
*[[Hindu units of time]]
*[[Palya]]
*[[Rajju]]
*[[List of numbers in Hindu scriptures]]
{{col div end}}

==References==

=== Notes ===
{{NoteFoot}}

=== Sources ===
{{reflist|2}}
{{notelist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book|title=East-India Register and Directory|publisher=W.H. Allen|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x_8nAAAAYAAJ&q=India+furlong+yard&pg=PA370|language=en|year=1819}}
* ''The Artha Shaastra of Kautilya'', [[Penguin Books]]
* [http://www.valmikiramayan.net/bala/sarga5/bala_5_prose.htm Valmiki Ramayana]
* [http://barunroy.com/history/dictionary-of-historical-and-related-terms/ Dictionary of Historical and Related Terms]

[[Category:Customary units in India]]
[[Category:Hindu astronomy]]
[[Category:Obsolete units of measurement]]
[[Category:Units of length]]