94 ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, (CEYLON BRANCH.) 



sugata, not the common, but (see ante) the imperial measure, 

 The Greeks would also have us believe that the Indians 

 were larger than the ordinary people of other Asiatic 

 regions. It is thence also reasonable to believe that their 

 span was larger ; and, they being nevertheless various, a 

 standard measure was doubtless fixed upon, as the sugata 

 vidatthi or " imperial span," two of which made a hastha or 

 "cubit." This is the same cubit of which Major-General 

 Cunningham says is longer than 18*158 inches, and which, 

 lie adds, is still the " hastha of the Indian Bazaars." This 

 is moreover generally believed to be the " carpenter's cubit 

 or the carpenter's two-feet rule," which to this day is 

 used in Ceylon — par excellence — as tf the cubit." 



ii. When again, we find in History that the ancient 

 Indians kept a constant intercourse with the Egyptians, and 

 that between their habits and the Israelites there was 

 scarcely any difference, we are naturally led to resort to 

 Egyptian and Jewish standards for the ascertainment of the 

 standard for the Indian cubit. Thomasz says, " The cubit 

 of the Nilometer is supposed to be the same as that of the 

 Jews, which is exactly two feet English : — if so, the twenty- 

 four digits will be precisely inches"; and it is very remark- 

 able that the constituent parts of a hastha are twenty-four 

 afigulas ; and afigula or finger is still the word which the 

 Buddhists of Ceylon use to express a carpenter's inch, or 

 an inch according to the English standard. This measure, 

 when again applied to the height of a man (which is generally 

 four times a hastha, we obtain eight feet as the stature, 

 nearly the height of an Indian's height, as stated by the 

 Greeks in round numbers, to be "five cubits" or seven and- 

 a-half feet. 



5 FEB 



