Traditional Use of Legume Seeds for Weighing Gold in India

In world history, grains and seeds were chosen for weighing gold, silver and other precious gemstones. The selection of these seeds as weight-stones is due to their elegant uniformity. As mentioned in the vedas, gold was weighed using gunja or ratti seeds in ancient India because these seeds are fairly constant in weight. This article intends to highlight (i) traditional usage of three legume plant seeds viz. ratti, coral and carob as weights and measures (ii) weighing systems followed in India, and (iii) descriptions of botanical features of these legume species.