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idea as to weights current at the period, we shall briefly
describe the same in the light of the information supplied
by the Artha艣膩stra. Weights were made of iron or of
stone available in Magadha and Mekala, or of substances
that would neither contract nor expand under external
influences. Seeds of m膩sa (Phraseolus radiatus)
gunja (Abrus precatorious) were the lowest standards.
of weight. Ten m膩sa seeds or five gu帽ja seeds equalled
one suvar峁嘺 m茫峁�a; sixteen surva峁嘺 m膩峁�as were equal to
one suvar峁嘺 or karsa; four kar峁�as made one pala. Then
there was a silver m膩峁�a which weighed eighty-eight white
or
mustard seeds; sixteen silver m膩sas or twenty 艣aibya seeds
made one dharana. One dharana of a diamond was
equal to twenty grains of rice. There were ten different
balances with levers of different standard lengths and
weights and they had one scale-pan on either side. The
lever was then marked for different weights beginning
with one kar峁�a (i. e. one-fourth pala) and ending with
one hundred or two hundred palas. Cubic measures were
made by dry and strong wood in such a way that the
conically heaped up portion of the grains outside the
mouth of the measure was equal to one-fourth of the
quantity of grains measured, or the measure contained the
whole amount of grain. Such measures were drona (two
hundred seeds of m膩sa), v膩r墨 (sixteen dronas), kumbha
(twenty dro峁嘺s) and vaha (ten kumbhas). Weights and
measures were stamped by the superintendent after the due
fees were paid.
Atom (param膩峁噓) was the minimum used in the
measures of length, eight atoms forming into one particle
(rathacakraviprut). Beginning with a particle (i. e.
eight atoms) there were gradually one lik峁Ｄ�, one y奴ka,
one yava (barley) and one angula, each succeeding
measure being eight times the previous one. Angula,
which was inch, was taken to be equal in length to the
middlemost joint of the middle finger of a medium sized
man. Further measures were a dhanurgraha (four
angulas), dhanurmu峁�ti (eight angulas), vitasti (twelve
angulas ), pada or sama or sala or pariraya (fourteen
angulas), aratni ( two vitastis or twenty four angulas),
hasta for measuring balances, cubic measures and pasture
lands (two vitastis plus one dhanurgraha i. e. twenty
1 Arthas膩stra, II, 19, pp. 103-109.