Indian short sabers

Jens Nordlunde · 2nd January 2016, 03:51 PM

Sorry I made a mistake when I said one angula/finger was four or five barley corns, as it seems to be eight barley corns.
Wheeler M. Thackston in Jahangirnama writes that one finger is 2.032 cm or 4/5 inch.
A. L. Basham in The Wonder that was India writes that eight barley corns = one angula = 3/4 inch.
If Thackston is correct. 1 inch = 2.54 cm so 4/5 of an inch would be 2.032 cm.
Basham's measure would give 1.905 cm. So the difference would be 0.127 cm.
When we are told that the best blades should be 50 angulas - and always an even number - the difference in blade length would be 6.35 cm, which is 3.125 angulas in difference.

2nd January 2016, 03:51 PM	#15
Jens Nordlunde Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Europe Posts: 2,718	Correction Sorry I made a mistake when I said one angula/finger was four or five barley corns, as it seems to be eight barley corns. Wheeler M. Thackston in Jahangirnama writes that one finger is 2.032 cm or 4/5 inch. A. L. Basham in The Wonder that was India writes that eight barley corns = one angula = 3/4 inch. If Thackston is correct. 1 inch = 2.54 cm so 4/5 of an inch would be 2.032 cm. Basham's measure would give 1.905 cm. So the difference would be 0.127 cm. When we are told that the best blades should be 50 angulas - and always an even number - the difference in blade length would be 6.35 cm, which is 3.125 angulas in difference.