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| a model of Medieval Balance found in Changu Museum, Bhaktapur, Nepal |
I visited ChanguNarayan (an UNESCO World Heritage Site) located in the eastern Hills of Bhaktapur District, Nepal in Spring of 2013. The hill is famous for the artistic medieval temple of Lord Vishnu (Narayan) said to be built by King Manadev. Recent claims have been coming in news and archaeological discourses that King Hari Datta Verma built the temple as early as 325 AD.
Just before you enter the square of the temple, you see a ‘Changu Museum’ managed by local people which makes you aware of many factual information about ancient and medieval Nepal.
A picture that I have posted here is all about the ‘science’ in it. I forgot when was such balance used in Nepal, but I saw a principle of lever here:
<< Load x Load Distance = Effort x Effort Distance >>
The plate can be considered as load in which food stuffs can be measured against the effort (the woody mass on another end). If more mass had to be measured, the plate’s end would be slid towards the string (fulcrum) that hangs the lever.
This signifies that medieval Nepal had science in it; which can still be studied as many of those articles and monuments have been conserved well. Learning science through ancient articles and monuments can be another idea in project based learning.
UPDATE: I came across several of information from different sources later. This balance is called ‘tulo‘ (तुलो) in Nepali language and is still being used in some places of Nepal for weighing meat to sell in the community after slaughtering the animal locally.
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