Yojana

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A yojana is a Vedic measure of distance, possibly somewhere from 9 km to 16 km.

A yojan is a form of measuring distance once used in ancient India. The exact measurement is in dispute - one quantification puts it at approximately 9 miles, but another puts it at 4.5 miles. 1 Yojan may be equivalent to 4 Krosas, or 8,000 Danda or Bow; it may also be equivalent to 4,000 Dhanu, or 768,000 Angulas. 1000 Yojans is known as a Mahayojan.

Yojana is an ancient measure of distance, where one yojana roughly equals to 8 to 10 miles. Its account is like this : 1 angula is 3/4 inch; 4 angula-s are = one dhanu graha - bow grip; 8 angula-s are = one dhanu muSTi - fist with thumb raised; 12 angula-s are = 1 vitasti - distance between tip of thumb and tip of last finger when palm is stretched; 2 vitasti-s = 1 aratni -s - cubit; 4 aratni-s = one danDa, dhanuS - bow height - 6 ft ; 10 danDa-s = 1 rajju 60 ft ; 2 rajju-s = 1 paridesha - 120 ft ; 2, 000 dhanuS-s = one krosha , and also called goraTa - 4, 000 yards ; 4 krosha-s = 1 yojana - thus one yojana is 9 to 10 miles. But the British Revenue measurement scaled it down to 5 miles, and all the dictionaries say that one yojana is 5 miles. But traditionally it is held as 10 miles. More info on these measures can be had from The Artha Shaastra of Kautilya - a republication of Penguin.

In modern Hindi yojana means "plan" or blueprint and it is an interesting connection with the Cartesian notion of "distance". Vedic texts are based on a psychogeography rather than cartography and prediction or plan is equated to space and "distance".

[edit] See also

• Rajju
• Palya
• Religious cosmology
• Hindu cosmology

[edit] References

Source:Valmiki Ramayana

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