An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c11.s29.6

v1.c11.s29.6

There is definite evidence that standard weights prevailed from the Kushan to the Gupta period. They are terracotta flat tablets, prepared in such a way that they cannot be taken to be anything but weights. They are of a uniform shape, smooth and flat, and significantly a few of them fit into certain standard weights of equal measure. Their smallness indicates that they might have been jewellers' weights. They were marked with lines or thick dashes dividing them into one, two, three, and four compartments. BHITA, NAGARJUNAKONDA, RANG MAHAL, SANGHOL, VADNAGAR, VAIŚĀLĪ, etc., have yielded them from the 2nd to the 6th century levels. At RANG MAHAL they are numerous in the size of 3 × 3 × 1·5 or 2·7 × 3 × 1·5 cm. They have markings of different types, such as in four compartments, with a number of dashes or lines on one or both sides. A special feature is that squares of the same markings are of roughly the same weight. At VADNAGAR they are plain and incised in rectangular and square shapes. Some have dots, three segments, horizontal lines intersected by two vertical lines producing a grid with three lines inside. The tablets from BHITA measure 1·6 × 3·2 × 2·4 cm and have square, rectangular or spherical shape. Similar ones also come from NAGARJUNAKONDA in the Ikṣvāku levels and from VAIŚĀLĪ in the Gupta ones. At SANGHOL they are recorded as surface finds. Such tablets with same incised markings were found to be of equal weights, possibly suggesting some sort of uniformity of weights in regions of w. and s. India and the Ganga valley.