Prehistoric India to 1000 B.C. c12.126

c12.126

Fragmentary evidence of equally exact systems of measurement has been recovered. From Mohenjo-daro came a broken scale engraved on shell, of which nine accurately divided intervals remained, indicating a decimal scale of 1.32 inches probably rising to a ‘foot’ of 13.2 inches; and at Harappā a bronze rod was found marked off in units of 0.3676 inch, which can be related to a scale based on a ‘cubit’ of 20.62 inches, a unit frequently used in the ancient world. The inferences from these two scales were tested at Harappā and Mohenjo-daro by a check series of over 150 measurements of architectural details, with the result that the concurrent use of two units of measurement, a ‘cubit’ of between 20.3 and 20.8 inches, and a ‘foot’ of between 13.0 and 13.2 inches, was proved. Measurements resolved themselves into simple multiples of one or other of these standard units - for instance the Great Bath at Mohenjo-daro is 36 by 21 units of a foot of 13.1 inches, and the circular working-platforms for flour-pounding in the Workmen’s Quarter at Harappā had a diameter of 10 feet of 13.2 inches.