Manasara Series (I. A Dictionary of Hindu Architecture; II. Indian Architecture according to Manasara-Shilpashastra; III. Manasara on Architecture and Sculpture: Sanskrit Text; IV. Architecture of Manasara: Translation; V. Architecture of Manasara: Illustrations; VI. Hindu Architecture in India and Abroad; VII. An Encyclopaedia of Hindu Architecture) v1.c6.105

v1.c6.105

“In the regular course of the table it tells us next (line 20) that 4 aratni (i.e. 4 hasta or cubits) are 1 daṇḍa, ‘staff’, or dhanus, ‘bow’ (from which it follows that 1 dhanus = 96 aṅgula).”

“Now the aṅgula or finger-breadth may be the theoretical unit: it may well have been originally the actual unit and the source of the other measures. But we can hardly doubt that the hasta or cubit eventually took its place as the practical unit; and that a correct scale was maintained by keeping in public offices a standard hasta marked off into 2 vitasti and 24 aṅgula. At any rate, the hasta is the practical measure to which we must attend in estimating all the others.”

(17) “Following Colebrooke (“Essays,” I. 540, note), I take the hasta for easy computation at exactly 18 inches, which gives ¾ inch as the value of the aṅgula.”