Continuity of measurements from Harappa to Mauryan times to that of the Guptas till c. 600 ce.
R Balasubramaniam of IIT Kanpur in a paper published in 2009 discussed the tremendous continuities that existed across India over thousands of years. In his estimation the Harappans (c. 3000 bce) used the same measurements of length as did the people of the Ganges valley, stretching from the time of the Mauryans (300 bce) to that of the Guptas (c. 600 ce). This measurement was used for engineering caves such as those at Barabar and Nagarjuna Hills in Bihar as also making the iron pillar which currently stands in the Qutb complex in Delhi. This would indicate considerable singularity in measurements across thousands of kilometres and thousands of years. This measurement unit was described in the Arthashastra as the angulam. Its larger unit was the danda. One angulam, Balasubramaniam said, equalled to 1.763 cms and 96 angulam made a danda. The dimensions of the caves at Barabar and Nagarjuni hills, he says, can be well reconciled if one considers the danda unit of 96 angulams, with each angulam measuring 1.763 cm. He also notes that the dimensions of the iron pillar at Delhi made sense only if it was taken that a danta was 108 angulam. Then he raises the question: how did this transition happen from 96 angulam in a danda to 108 angulam in a danda. He suggests that this drift may have happened because of two reasons. One, that there was a drift over the 650 year or so from the time that the caves were engineered to the time when the pillar was. Two, the caves were meant for housing ascetics while the pillar was meant to honour Vishnu. For a secular purpose the measure might have been 96 but for activities that connect with the divine it might have been taken to be 108. Pic. of the iron pillar at Delhi by Gary Ashley
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