Hi Jens , you are six feet tall ( 6' ) .
In England and America the inch is the same ; 12 inches (symbol " ) make one foot (symbol ' ) .
I have to use a conversion table for meters , centimeters , and millimeters as I suppose you must have to also for feet and inches .
I am by no means any kind of a mathemetician so the whole concept makes my brain melt .
And now we talk of grains of unknown origin and size .
Now I must ask a question ; we are reading from a Muslim manuscript, yes ?
Is this a Muslim translation from a Hindu manuscript or an arbitrary Muslim ideal ?
I find myself further confused by the term 'sword' as a sword is not just a blade alone but incorporates a hilt to make it functional ; so when we talk about this subject of length is it really just the blade or is this just an assumption because nowhere have I seen the term blade used in the original quote .
Addendum :
I did a little googling on Hindu weights and measures :
http://tinyurl.com/bgxxf