Khmer units                                                                                         Main Page

Blue : Mannika

Red : the authors

1 krta yuga (KY)

752.4576 m

432 phyeam

 16*108 cubit

1 phyeam

1.7418 m

4  cubit

1 cubit

0.43545 m

40 cubits = 3 LU

360 pheam

627.048 m

20*72 cubit

108 latitude units (LU)

1 latitude unit (LU)

5.8060 m

13.3333 cubit

10/3   phyeam

1 Khmer degree of great circle (kdeg)

112868.64 m

150 KY

600*108  phyeam

1 Khmer arcminute of great circle (kam)

1881.144 m

2.5 KY

10*108  phyeam

= 3*108  LU

= 40*108 cubits

1 Khmer arcsecond of great circle (kas)

31.3524 m

72 cubit

54/10   LU

Main Page

According to Mannika (1996):
1 krta yuga (KY) = 752.4576 m

We suggest:
5 KY = 2 khmer arcminutes of Earth great circle
As a consequence, 1 khmer arcminute would be equal to 1881.144 m

We propose this value, called “kam” in our articles, was used by the Khmers.

1 Khmer degree = 1 kam * 60 = 112.86864 km
The diameter of Earth would then be : 112.86864 * 360 / pi = 12933.79342 km

Now, according to J.L.E. Dreyer.” he put the diameter of the earth equal to 1050 yojans (of 7.6 miles each) " . "He" is Aryabhata. The Earth diameter is supported by Subhash C. Kak although the latter provides a slightly different value for the yojan (7.5 miles). The reference used by Dreyer is Colebrooke, p. 467". The reference used by Kak is Neugebauer, 1975, page 7.

According to the authors’ hypothesis, the length of one yojan would be :
12933.79342 / (1.609344 * 1050) = 7.65 miles.

As nobody has calculated the precise length of a yojan, we consider the difference of 0.05 mile with respect to the Dreyer-Colebrooke value is fully acceptable.
We show that:
- the greater dimensions of the Angkor site are odd integers of Khmer arcminutes. That means they are not simple integers of krta yuga.
- the length of at least one structure of most temples is an integer of Khmer arcseconds (1 kam / 60 = 1 kas = 31.3524 m). “Midnight” multiples of this length we propose are frequently used to determine the length of other structures.

References:
Colebrooke, "Notes and Illustrations to the Algebra of Brahmagupta, p. XXXVIII, Essays, II.
Dreyer, J.L.E. "A history of astronomy from Thales to Kepler", Chapter XI .
Kak, Subhash C. “Early theories on the distance to the Sun.pdf,
Mannikka, E. 1996. “Angkor Wat: Time, Space and Kingship” University of Hawai’i Press.
Neugebauer, 1975. “

Copyright Robert Bywater & Jean-Pierre Lacroix

rab1@ancientcartography.net

jpl@ancientcartography.net