Taking the direction of the prevailing wind, the daily path of the sun and any local taboos into account, the ground plan was laid out with stakes and string on an east-west axis using the traditional Burmese system of measurement and scale(sanit) based in part on the dimensions of the upper limbs of the body. For example, two basic units, the let-thit(about two centimetres) was equal to the breadth of a finger while the taung(c. 45 centimetres), roughly a cubit, was the equivalent length from the'elbow to the finger tips'. The scale most commonly used d in plans for a monastery was one let-thit to four taung(U Su 1963: 4).