Sana lamjei (Lam onnanaba chei) was a customary
unit of length
A unit of length refers to any arbitrarily chosen and accepted reference standard for measurement of length. The most common units in modern use are the metric units, used in every country globally. In the United States the U.S. customary un ...
used in the erstwhile kingdom of
Manipur
Manipur () is a state in northeastern India with Imphal as its capital. It borders the Indian states of Assam to the west, Mizoram to the south, and Nagaland to the north and shares the international border with Myanmar, specifically t ...
, now a state of
India
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
. The unit of length, defined by the ruler of the kingdom,
Nongda Lairen Pakhangpa in 33 CE, being equal to the distance from the floor to the tips of the fingers of his raised right hand while standing (a
fathom
A fathom is a unit of length in the imperial and the U.S. customary systems equal to , used especially for measuring the depth of water. The fathom is neither an international standard (SI) unit, nor an internationally accepted non-SI unit. H ...
), plus 4 fingerwidths.
The and unit became a standard for land measurement. An area of 50×60 sana lamjei was equal to 1 pari. 1 pari was 2 lourak, 4 sangam, 8 loukhai, 16 loushel, or 32 tong.
The value was later redefined by King
Khagemba (1597–1652) to be defined by distance between and the fingertips of that his outstretched arms, plus 4 fingerwidths. After
metrication
Metrication or metrification is the act or process of converting to the metric system of measurement. All over the world, countries have transitioned from local and traditional Unit of measurement, units of measurement to the metric system. This ...
in India in the mid-20th century, the unit became obsolete.
See also
*
List of customary units of measurement in South Asia
The origins of the customary units of measurement in South Asia are varied. As in Europe, there were various local systems of everyday measurements of length, mass and dry volume (the latter being a ''de facto'' measure of mass for many staple g ...
References
Units of length
Customary units in India
Obsolete units of measurement
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