Sinking-bowl water clock (ghati)
Reloj de agua de cuenco que se hunde (ghati)
- Date
- c. 500 · confidence low
- Place
- Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh, India
- Credited to
- Indian astronomers
- Field
- Knowledge & symbols
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
Copper bowl with a small calibrated hole that fills and sinks in a fixed time (one ghatika, 24 minutes). It was the standard timepiece of temples, courts and observatories across the subcontinent until the 19th century.
Described in the Surya Siddhanta and by Varahamihira; a similar device (tas) was used in Persia, and the direction of transmission is debated.
What it led to
- timekeeping in astronomy and rituals
- public schedules announced by gong