CHENNAI: Antique gold weighing stones, which were renowned for their accuracy and authenticity, are on display at the Chennai government museum. The special display is the ‘exhibit’ of the current week. The stones, made of brass and square in shape, are used to weigh gold and called “Pown weighing stones.” In Tamil, ‘pown’ refers to eight grams of gold or one sovereign. The museum has a unique collection of these antique stones, that range from 1/8 sovereigns to 20 sovereigns. The artefacts are dated between 1929 and 1947. Speaking to City Express, N Sundararajan, Curator, Numismatics section of the museum said the Indian pown weighing stones of the bygone era were renowned for their accuracy. “Barthemea, an European traveller in his travel accounts, narrates the accuracy of weights and measures of the Vijayanagara period.” The foreigner had described the balances as ‘small, true and accurate,’ which could even tell the weight of a strand of hair. During the Chola reign, the weighing stone used to measure gold was christened ‘Adavallan,’ which is a synonym of Lord Nataraja. Special stones known as ‘Kudingnaikal,’ were used for weighing precious metals like gold and silver. Ancient societies utilised even grains and nuts as weighing stones. “For instance one ½ Karshapana coin is equal to 32 Rati seeds (Kundrimani).” Ancient Tamils used various types of weights corresponding to natural products such as mustard seeds, zeera and kundrimani.
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