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Surat , India
17ᵗʰ – 19ᵗʰ century

Surat was the principal trading port of the Mughal Empire. The Portuguese arrived in the early 1530's, followed by the British. The weights and measures of Surat thus showed a mixture of Indian, Arabic, Portuguese and English influences.

Mass

Fryer, writing in the late 17th century, wrote that the earlier system of weights had been:

but that at the time of his visits:

Except that for amber and coral, 18 pice to the seer was retained.

By 1687, the British East India Company had closed its Presidency in Surat, in favor of the one in Bombay. As trade increasingly left Surat for Bombay, the weights of Surat felt the effect of the standard of the East Indies Company's Bombay Factory. By the early 19th century:

Kelly (1835, page 119) adds a cautionary note:

But these weights are not constant; for, in the sale of many articles, the Maund, instead of 40 Seers, contains from 41 to 46 Seers; neither is the Candy always 20 Maunds. Thus, pepper and sandal-wood are sold by the Bombay Candy of 21 Bombay Maunds, and cotton by the Candy of 21 Surat Maunds.

The Gazetteer (1877, page 210) notes:

In the year 1848 an attempt was made by government to introduce the Bengal system of weights and measures into Surat, but, in consequence of the opposition of the people, it was abandoned.

It then describes the following system:

Actually, it's not possible to give universally reliable metric equivalents for these units. For example, echoing Kelly, the Gazetteer notes,

In the case of cotton, one man is equal to 42 sers, and in that of spices, sugar, tobacco, and certain other articles, the man varies from 40 to 46 sers.

A few of these have been recorded in the literature. The maund of castor oil was 40¼ seers; the maund of coconuts, oil, ghee, cotton and spirits was 2 seers.

Cotton, in its raw state, or kápas, is measured by the bhár of 24 mans, and cleaned cotton by the khándi of 20 mans.

*Doursther says = 15 avoirdupois ounces.

*Fryer says 3, but he is the only source that does so.

Length

John Fryer, A new Account, page 206.

Capacity

Land area

A bigha of 25,600 square feet was formerly the unit of land measure. The bigha was sub-divided into twenty wasa, and the wasa into twenty viswási. Since the introduction of the revenue survey, an acre of 43,560 square feet has been substituted for the bigha. The acre is sub-divided into forty gunthás, and the guntha into sixteen ánnás. The present acre is, therefore, equal to about one bigha and two-thirds, or, more strictly, to one bigha and fourteen-twentieths of a bigha.

Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency, page 210.

Sources quoted

John Fryer.
A new Account of East-India and Persia…
London: Printed br R.R. for Ri. Chiswell, 1698.

Fryer traveled in the area between 1672 and 1681.

Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency, prepared under orders of Government. Gujarat. Surat and Broach. Vol. II.
Bombay: Printed at the Government Central Press, 1877.

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Last revised: 10 November 2014.