HOW DID HE DO IT?

In the 2500 years period of available Tamil history, the rule of the Imperial Cholzas was an important factor.
The Cholzas were ruling over the whole of Tamilnadu and parts
of Andra for the better part of 3 centuries lasting from 9th to 12th centuries.
It took the Cholzas immense repeated efforts lasting a century to overcome the Pandyas. Rajendra got so fed up that he abolished the rule of the Pandyas and appointed his sons as the Pandya kings. Not kings of Pandya country, but as Pandya kings themselves.
The Pandyas bided their time for two centuries.
The nemesis to the Cholza Empire came in the person of Maaravarman Sundara Pandiya I(1216 - 1240) He devastated Cholza nadu and Cholza nadu became very weak.
40 years later, another Sundara Pandiya appeared on the scene.
He was Jatavarman Sundara Pandiya. He conquered the Cholza territories and created the New Pandya Empire.
He ransacked Cholza naadu.
But he donated much of whatever booty that he captured.
The biggest beneficiaries to his benevolence were the Chidhambaram and the SriRanggam temples.
He perfomed what was known as the 'Thulabaara Dhaanam'.
'Thulabaram' is a weighing scale.
He caparisoned his Royal elephant with full ornaments. He climbed upon the howdah(ambaari) with his royal queen. The elephant mahout was also on the elephant. The king and queen were fully bedecked in their splendour. The custom was that the king would wear the most costly ornaments.
Marco Polo, a few years later. has mentioned that the king was wearing ornaments worth a city's ransom.
Thus fully attired, he weighed himself, his wife, the mahout, the elephant with all the paraphernalia.
He gave an equivalent weight of gold and other ornaments to the Temple of SriRanganathar and Chidhambaram.

Please read carefully.

This is a historical fact. Therefore it had really taken place.

Now the questions are:

How did the Emperor Jatavaraman Sundara Pandya measure out an exact weight?

How tall was the beam of the scale-"tharaasu".

How long was the cross-beam of the tharaasu?

What material would have takenthe stress and strain and born the weights - the weight of the elephant etc., and theweight of the gold?

What iron was used in the making of the tharaasu?
What was the total weight of the tharaasu?

What formula would you use to measure the distance of the fulcrum from the end?

How heavy and how thick should be the pivot which would bear the weight of the arms and the weights, if it should be iron?

How high was the platform and scaffolding on which the weight readers were standing?
ANSWERS:

THEY BUILT A GIANT RAFT AND FLOATED IT IN A GHAT.

THE KING, THE QUEEN, AND THE MAHOUT SAT ON THE
ROYAL ELEPHANT.

THE ELEPHANT WAS DRIVEN TO THE RAFT AND MADE
TO STAND ON IT WITH VERY LITTLE MOTION.

THE DEPTH TO WHICH THE RAFT SANK, WAS NOTED.

THE ELEPHANT WAS MADE TO COME OUT OF THE RAFT.

GOLD WAS PLACED IN THE RAFT UNTIL THE RAFT SANK
TO THE SAME DEPTH AS WHEN IT HELD THE ELEPHANT.

THIS GOLD WAS EQUAL IN WEIGHT TO THE WEIGHT OF THE
ELEPHANT, ETC.

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