Indian Epigraphy c16.s6.1

c16.s6.1

Although often entire villages were granted by charters, in many cases the gift land consisted of smaller plots of land, the areas of which were usually indicated in the records. The measurement of the plot was sometimes entrusted to a high officer of the king.³ The unit of measurement was the cubit which was often measured by the length of the forearm of a particular individual in the king’s service⁴ and the measuring rod made of wood, bamboo, etc., had the length of a recognised number of such cubits.⁵ Sometimes particular measuring rods (i.e. rods of particular lengths) are mentioned in inscriptions. Thus the inscriptions of the Senas of Bengal mention Samataṭa-nala (the measuring rod prevalent in the Samataṭa country),¹ Vṛṣabhaśaṅkara-nala (the measuring rod introduced by Arirāja-vṛṣabha-śaṅkara Vijayasena),² ‘the measuring rod 56 cubits in length prevalent in the district around the gift land’,³ etc. The ‘measuring rod of the Samataṭa country’ may be compared to Eḍenāḍa-daṇḍa (the measuring rod of the district of Eḍenāḍu),⁴ Paḷṭiyamattavurada daṇḍa (the measuring rod of the village of Paḷṭiyamattavura),⁵ etc., of Kannaḍa inscriptions which also refer to particular measuring rods like Māṇikeśvarada kolu (the rod of the god Māṇikeśvara),⁶ Gaṅgana ghaḷe (the rod of a person named Gaṅga),⁷ Dharaṇidevana kolu (the rod of a person named Dharaṇideva),⁸ etc.⁹ Measuring rods like Gaṅgana ghaḷe are comparable to Śivacandra-hasta referred to above. Sometimes the gift land is stated to have been measured according to the rāja-māna¹⁰ indicating apparently the standard unit of measurement recognised by the government. Numerous measuring rods of this kind are known from Tamil epigraphs of the time of the Coḷa and Vijayanagara kings, two of them being the Śrīpāda-kkol (the rod of the king’s foot with reference to Kulottuṅga I) and the Māligai-kkol (the rod of the palace). The varying length of the rods is given in the records as 4, 12, 13, 16 or 18 spans, 36 or 48 steps and 12, 14, 16 or 20 feet.¹¹