Ponniyin Selvan Varalaatru Peravai

Hello My Young Friends,

Here's something for you.
Historical, of course.

The Cholzas were ruling over the whole of Tamilnadu and parts
of Andra for the better part of 3 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 Pandiya 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'.
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
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.

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".

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

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

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