Life and Conditions of the People of Hindustan (1200–1550 A.D.) c8.44

c8.44

⁴ Moreland, India, etc., 53. The present official standard maund weighs 82.28 lbs. (I.G.I., II, vii). The present scale of weights used generally throughout Northern India and less commonly in Madras and Bombay may be thus expressed : one maund—40 seers; one seer—16 chittaks or 80 tolas. The actual weight of a seer varies greatly from district to district, and even from village to village; but in the standard system the tola is 180 grains Troy (the exact weight of the rupee) and the seer thus weighs 2.05 lbs. and the maund 82.28 lbs. (Vide I.G.I., Introduction, vii.) Thus for a rough calculation the standard maund of our period was half the standard maund of Akbar. So that we may roughly state that our maund stands in a ratio of 27 : 80 to the present maund, or 3⅓ of our maunds would be equal in weight to the present maund.