History of measurement systems in India

The history of measurement systems in India begins in early Indus Valley civilisation with the earliest surviving samples dated to the 3rd millennium BCE.

[1] Since early times the adoption of standard weights and measures has reflected in the country's architectural, folk, and metallurgical artifacts.

[3] The formal metrication in India is dated to 1 October 1958 when the Indian Government adopted the International System of Units (SI).

[6] Uniform units of length were used in the planning of towns such as Lothal, Surkotada, Kalibangan, Dolavira, Harappa, and Mohenjo-daro.

[1] A number of excavated surveying instruments and measuring rods have yielded evidence of early cartographic activity.

[12] Klostermaier (2003) states that: "Indian astronomers calculated the duration of one kalpa (a cycle of the universe during which all the heavenly bodies return to their original positions) to be 4,320,000,000 years.

[14] Evidence of a complex system of weights and measures existing in use for multiple purposes under the central control of the Maurya administration (322–185 BCE) is found in the Arthashastra.

The measurements include those of length, divided into several series, rising from those below the standard aṅgula, defined as the 'middle joint of the middle finger of a man of average size'; to those above, including the span and the cubit, and ending with the rod (danda) or bow (dhanus) of around 180 cm; and above this measurement of longer distance, the goruta or krosa and the yojana.

Measurements of capacity were set on different standards, for revenue, trade, payments, or palace purposes: these were applicable for both liquids and solids.

[16] The Chinese merchant Ma Huan (1413–51) outlines the standardised weight and currency system in place at the port city of Cochin.

[17] Ma Huan noted that gold coins, known as fanam, or locally known as "panam",[18] were issued in Cochin and weighed a total of one fen and one li according to the Chinese standards.

[17] The Mughal empire (1526–1857) undertook central agrarian reforms, under which statistical data was compiled by the local quanungo officials on instructions from then revenue minister Todar Mal.

[3] As a part of these reforms, Akbar the Great (1556–1605) enforced practical standardisation in the empire's weight and measure system.