adoption of English measures (Was: How long is "the length of a bow"?)

[Guest guest]

Bharat Gupt's comments on the sthapatis relating the hasta to the official

English foot raises other questions. Of course, traditional units of bulk, such

as the seer, and of land area, such as the bigha, continued to be used

throughout India until the GOI imposed metric measurements in the 60s or 70s.

But were traditional standards of distance replaced more or less completely, and

if so, how early? Was there any difference in this between small units (e.g.

anguli, hasta) and large ones (e.g. kos)? Did the East India Company and later

the post-Mutiny Raj insist on English units in contracts, and if so, at what

point in time? Did it only teach English units in math in schools? Either of

these would have a gigantic influence. Did the conceptual similarity of some

units between the two systems, being ultimately based on the human body, and

their lack of standardization thoughout the subcontinent, make it easy to switch

from one system to another? I have seen country-made rulers in antique shops,

in brass or ivory, but always in English units rather than some local system.

 

Allen

 

 

Allen W. Thrasher, Ph.D.

Senior Reference Librarian

Southern Asia Section

Asian Division

Library of Congress

Jefferson Building 150

101 Independence Ave., S.E.

Washington, DC 20540-4810

tel. 202-707-3732

fax 202-707-1724

athr

The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the Library of

Congress.

[Guest guest]

I have never seen kos being used formally, however I remembers some

of the individuals of my great-grandmother's generation mentioning

distances in kos.

 

I remember some people using angula when I was little since it is a

convenient measure to use.

 

When the refugees from Sindh arrived in our region, many Sindhi

women used to work as seamstresses. They used to measure a gaj

(yard) as the distance between the tip of the nose and tip of the

middle finger of the extended hand, in addition to using angul etc.

 

I don't remember people complaining about the fit.

 

 

Yashwant

 

 

INDOLOGY, "Allen W Thrasher" <athr@l...>

wrote:

> Bharat Gupt's comments on the sthapatis relating the hasta to the

official English foot raises other questions. Of course,

traditional units of bulk, such as the seer, and of land area, such

as the bigha, continued to be used throughout India until the GOI

imposed metric measurements in the 60s or 70s. But were traditional

standards of distance replaced more or less completely, and if so,

how early? Was there any difference in this between small units

(e.g. anguli, hasta) and large ones (e.g. kos)? Did the East India

Company and later the post-Mutiny Raj insist on English units in

contracts, and if so, at what point in time? Did it only teach

English units in math in schools? Either of these would have a

gigantic influence. Did the conceptual similarity of some units

between the two systems, being ultimately based on the human body,

and their lack of standardization thoughout the subcontinent, make

it easy to switch from one system to another? I have seen country-

made rulers in antique shops, in brass or ivory, but always in

English units rather than some local system.

>

> Allen

>

>

> Allen W. Thrasher, Ph.D.

> Senior Reference Librarian

> Southern Asia Section

> Asian Division

> Library of Congress

> Jefferson Building 150

> 101 Independence Ave., S.E.

> Washington, DC 20540-4810

> tel. 202-707-3732

> fax 202-707-1724

> athr@l...

> The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the

Library of Congress.