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yava

The Sanskrit word for barley. In India, at least as early as the second century bce – 19ᵗʰ century, the barley corn was the basis of units of length and of weight.

1

As a unit of length, = ⅛th of an angula, about 26 millimeters.

sources

Jaü, Jaö, or Jou, H. (, S[anskrit]. yava, ) Barley, a barleycorn, which is the basis of long measure : eight, measured across, are considered equal to a finger.

H. H. Wilson, 1855, page 235.

Yava, S. &c., vernacularly, Yau, or Jau, ( ) Barley, a barley-corn, especially as a rudimental measure of length.

H. H. Wilson, 1855, page 560.

2

As a unit of mass, = ¹⁄₃rd of a rati or kṛishṇala