Indian Epigraphy c16.s6.43

c16.s6.43

to about 4½ Bighās. The Doṇ is more widely distributed. In the Chittagong District, the Doṇ is equal to about 21 Bighās; but, in the Noakhali District, it is equal to about 100 Bighās in Sandvip and to about 144 Bighās in the Shaistanagar Pargana. Hunter’s A Statistical Account of Bengal shows this difference in the measurement of the same unit as due to the fact that the length of the measuring rod and also of the cubit is different in different localities. Usually a measuring rod was 14 cubits and a cubit 18 inches long. In Sandvip, however, the length of the cubit was 20¾ inches while, in the Shaistanagar Pargana, the measuring rod was 22 cubits long. Nowadays, 1 cubit=18 inches and 1 nala (measuring rod)=16 cubits, as standardised by the Government, have ousted the earlier lengths noticed by Hunter, and 1 Doṇ is now taken, according to the Government standard, to be equal to 76 Bighās in the Noakhali District. In the Rangpur District, the Bighā is known by the name Doṇ. In certain areas of the Mymensigh District, the Doṇ is equal to about 17 Bighās, though elsewhere it is equal to about 51 Bighās.