History of measurement systems in India

The history of measurement systems in India begins in early

Standard weights and measures were developed by the Indus Valley Civilization.

A total of 558 weights were excavated from Mohenjodaro, Harappa, and

binary and decimal systems. 83% of the weights which were excavated from the above three cities were cubic, and 68% were made of chert.^[1]

The Arthashastra offers a wealth of evidence for the wide varieties of standardised weights and measures of the time. Officers were appointed to control their use and standardisation. The measurements include those of length, divided into several series, rising from those below the standard

span and the cubit, and ending with the rod (danda) or bow (dhanus) of around 180 cm; and above this measurement of longer distance, the goruta or krosa and the yojana. Various special measurements are mentioned, for instance for digging moats, making roads or city walls. Measurements of capacity were set on different standards, for revenue, trade, payments, or palace purposes: these were applicable for both liquids and solids. Weights, too, were in several series: for precious substances there were three, for gold, silver, and diamonds; another series was for weights and general purposes. Weights should be made of iron or of stone from the Mekhala hills. Considerable attention is given to the types of weighing machines employed: one is a balance (tula) with two pans, for which ten different sizes are recommended for weighing different quantities; and another a sort of steelyard, in two sizes. A steelyard is used as a symbol on the negama coins from Taxila, suggesting their clear mercantile connotation. Equal attention is given to the measurement of time, based on the device named the nalika, being the time taken for one adhaka of water to flow out of a pot through a hole of the same diameter as that of a wire 4 angulas long, made from 4 masas of gold.^[2]

Depiction of equal arm balances is found in the art of

Abū Rayḥān Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad al-Bīrūn, an Islamic scholar who undertook one of the first studies of India's traditions in his Tahriq-e-Hind, also reflect on the regular usage of the steelyard in India.^[16]

Late Middle Ages—Republic of India (1200 CE–1947 CE onwards)

The

Cochin.^[17] Ma Huan noted that gold coins, known as fanam, or locally known as "panam",^[18] were issued in Cochin and weighed a total of one fen and one li according to the Chinese standards.^[17] They were of fine quality and could be exchanged in China for 15 silver coins of four-li weight each.^[17]

The

Akbar the Great (1556–1605) enforced practical standardisation in the empire's weight and measure system.^[3] The Mughal measurement system measured land in terms of gaz and bigha.^[3] The measure of agricultural output was the man.^[3] Todar Mal's reforms were resisted by large land holders in India, following which the land of these zamindars was placed under the control of the Mughal treasury.^[3] Mughal surveying parties used standardised bamboo rods with iron joints to clearly record land according to the standard imperial land measures.^[3] These records were later used to collect land revenue corresponding to the land holdings.^[3]

Republic of India adopted the metric system on 1 October 1958.^[4] However, the traditional units still prevail in some areas.^[19] Chakrabarti (2007) holds that: 'Yet a few areas have still remained untouched by the metric system. In the land-measuring system in India, possibly one of the most complex and archaic systems, we follow different sets of measuring units and systems in different parts of the country. Different State governments have tried to standardise this by introducing a suitable metric system through which official transactions take place and official records are kept. But the land dealings are still done in a number of archaic units. It appears that people are satisfied and comfortable with them.'^[19]

Indians in villages continue to use some of the ancient measuring techniques and standards such as palm length, arm length or the owner, tula for gold and mana for weight etc.

See also

• Indian units of measurement

Citations

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f g} Iwata, 2254
2. ^ ^{a b c} Allchin, 217
3. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h} Richard, 84
4. ^ ^{a b c} Chakrabarti, 390
5. ^ ^{a b} Kenoyer, 265
6. ^ Baber, 23
7. ^ In the third millennium BCE the Indus measuring system was further developed in the ancient regions of Iran and Afghanistan -- Iwata, 2254.
8. ^ ^{a b} Whitelaw, 14
9. ^ Whitelaw, 15
10. ^ Schwartzberg, 1301–1302
11. ^ ^{a b} Sharma & Bhardwaj, 320
12. ^ See Sarma (2008) in Astronomy in India.
13. ^ Klostermaier (2003)
14. ^ See Sharma & Bhardwaj, pages 332 and 336.
15. ^ ^{a b} Sharma & Bhardwaj, 333
16. ^ Sharma & Bhardwaj, 334
17. ^ ^{a b c} Chaudhuri, 223
18. ^ a S. Bartholomaeo, Paulinus (1800). A voyage to the East Indies. printed by J. Davis: and sold by Vernor and Hood; and J. Cuthell. p. 78. Retrieved 25 March 2012.
19. ^ ^{a b} Chakrabarti, 391

Bibliography

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• Baber, Zaheer (1996), The Science of Empire: Scientific Knowledge, Civilization, and Colonial Rule in India, State University of New York Press,
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• Chakrabarti, Bhupati (2007), "Fifty years of the metric system in India and its adoption in our daily life", Current Science, 92 (3): 390–391, Indian Academy of Sciences.
• Chaudhuri, K. N. (1985), Trade and Civilisation in the Indian Ocean, Cambridge University Press,
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• Iwata, Shigeo (2008), "Weights and Measures in the Indus Valley", Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures (2nd edition) edited by
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• Kenoyer, Jonathan Mark (2006), "Indus Valley Civilization",
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• ISBN 978-1-4020-4559-2
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• Schwartzberg, Joseph E. (2008), "Maps and Mapmaking in India", Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures (2nd edition) edited by Helaine Selin, pp. 1301–1303, Springer,
  ISBN 978-1-4020-4559-2
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• Sharma, V.L. & Bhardwaj, H.C. (1989), "Weighing Devices in Ancient India", Indian Journal of History of Science 24 (4): 329–336, Indian National Science Academy.
• Whitelaw, Ian (2007), A Measure of All Things: The Story of Man and Measurement, Macmillan,
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