maund in India

Government maund 82.286 pound av.
old bazaar maund 72¹/₃ pound av
Madras almost 25 pounds opens a new page containing a chart that shows relationships between this unit and other units in its system
Juggerat 37 to 44 pounds
various 80 pounds, plus or minus
Locale equivalent to pounds av kilograms corresponding
pecul
Bombay maund 40 Bombay seers 28 12.701
42 Bombay seers 29.400 13.336
Surat maund 40 Surat seers 37.338 16.936
41 Surat seers 38.226 17.339
42 Surat seers 39.199 17.780
43 Surat seers 40.366 18.310
44 Surat seers 41.066 18.627
Bengal factory maund 40 seers;
3 2 cwt.
74.666 or
74 lb. 10 oz. 10.666 drs.
33.868
bazar maund 40 seers 82.133 37.255
Regulation VII of 1833 100 troy pounds 82 2/7 37.3202  
Madras maund 8 viss 25 11.340

sources

1

In the Madras and Bombay Presidencies, the weights of commerce have been long since made to conform to the avoirdupois system by assuming the nearest approximation in pounds to the local maund, and adjusting the latter to it. Thus at Madras the maund is assumed as equal to 25 lbs. av.: and at Bombay the more convenient equivalent of 28 lbs., or one quarter cwt. has been adopted for the standard maund. As these weights (especially the latter) are convenient by their direct relation to the commercial unit of England, it is neither to be expected nor to be wished, that they should be exchanged for the weights of Bengal. Indeed it should be remembered, that the use of purely English weights even in Calcutta counting-houses can lead to no confusion:—it is the introduction of a fictitious native weight, like the factory maund, that is objectionable as neither Indian nor English.

[James Prinsep].
Useful Tables, forming an Appendix to the Journal of the Asiatic Society.
Part the First. Coins, Weights and Measures of British India.

Calcutta: Printed at the Baptist Mission Press, 1834.
Page 72.

2

The maund of India may as a genus be divided into four different species:
1. That of Bengal, containing 40 seers, and averaging about 80 lbs. avoir.
2. That of Central India (Malwa, Ajmeer, &c.) generally equal to 40 lbs. avoir. and containing 20 seers (so that the seer of this large portion of the continent assimilates to that of Bengal.)
3. The maund of Guzerat and Bombay, equal to ¼ cwt. or 28 pounds and divided into 40 seers of smaller grade.
4. The maund of Southern India, fixed by the Madras government at 25 lbs. avoir.

There are, however many other varieties of maund, from 15 to 64 seers in weight; which it is unnecessary to particularize.

[James Prinsep].
Useful Tables, forming an Appendix to the Journal of the Asiatic Society.
Part the First. Coins, Weights and Measures of British India.

Calcutta: Printed at the Baptist Mission Press, 1834.
Page 77.

3

Man, Mun, commonly, Maund, H. &c. (, from the A[rabic]. mann , Hebrew mann), Mahana, Uriya (), Manugu, Tel. () A measure of weight of general use in India, but varying in value in different places. Four principal varieties are specified by Mr. Prinsep; 1. the Bengal maund, containing 40 sers ; 2. the maund of Central India, consisting of half the quantity, or 20 sers; 3. the maund of Guzerat, consisting of 40 sers, but of lesser value, making the Bombay maund 28 lb. avoirdupois ; and 4. the maund of Southern India, fixed by the Madras government at 25 lb. In Bengal there were also two kinds of maunds, the Bázár maund, of the value above described, or, more correctly, 82 lb., being based upon the computation of 80 sicca rupees to a ser, and 40 sers to the maund, the rupee weighing 179.666 Tr. grs.; and the Factory maund, introduced into the Company's commercial transactions in 1787, apparently for the convenience of converting it into English weight, the Factory maund being = 74 lb. 10 oz. 10.666 drs., and three such maunds being almost exactly equal to 2 cwt. In 1833 the Bengal government directed the discontinuance of both in the public offices, and established a maund weighing 100 lb. troy, or 87 2/7 lb. avoirdupois, based upon the change of the weight of the rupee to 180 grs. troy, which made the new maund heavier by 2/7ths of a pound. The maund of Akbar's time was equal to but 34¾ lb.; and still, in various parts of India, great differences prevail, extending from 25 lb., as at Bombay and in Mysore, to 163 lb., the weight of the maund in some parts of the district of Ahmadnagar, in which the highest values occur : the term is used rather laxly in the west of India as the unit of land measure, one man being equal to four rukas, or 16 payalis, or 32 adholis, or 10 chakurs, q.v. The Hebrew Mann, or Manah, from which, through Arabic, the Indian word is derived, corresponded more nearly to the ser, being but 13,125 troy grains, or less than 2 lb. avoirdupois.

H. H. Wilson, 1855, page 326.

4

The bazar maund is equal to 82 lb. 2 oz. 2 drs., and 100 bazar maunds equal to 110 factory maunds.

The Asiatic Journal and Monthly Register for British and Foreign India, China, and Australasia. Vol. 23. August, 1837.
London: Wm. H. Allen and Co., 1837.
Page 332.

5

the Batman is 82 pound English, but fifty five of their pounds, the Mawnd is as much; Howbeit, as in Persia, the Mawnd Shaw and Tabriz differ, and as our Troy and Haverdepois are not the same; so in all parts of the world where wealth and traffick is, are such distinguishments:

Tho[mas] Herbert.
Some Yeares Travels into Africa & Asia the Great…
London: Printed by R. Br. for Iacob Blome and Richard Bishop, 1638.
Page 38.

6

[At Bandar Abbas] Their great Weights are Maunds only, and these differ according to the Nature of the Commoditys to be deliver'd by them. Sugar, Copper, Tutanague, all sorts of Drugs, &c. are sold by the Maund Tabrees; which in the Factory, and the Customhouse, is nearest 6¾ l. Avoirdupoiz ; but in the Bazar it is not above 6¼ l.; which one ought to have regard to in buying out of the Shops. Eatables, and all sorts of Fruit, as Rice, Raisins, Prunellas, Almonds, Onions, &c. are sold by the Maund Copara of 7¾ l. in the Factory, and from 7¼ to 7½ in the Bazar. Fine Goods, as Gold, Silver, Musk, Acheen Camphir, Bezoar, Coral, Amber, Cloves and Cinamon Oyls, dy'd China Silk, &c. are sold by the Miscal, six of which are commonly counted an Avoirdupoiz Ounce ; its just Weight is 2 dw. 23 gr. 24 d. ps. Troy. The Maund Shaw is two Maund Tabrees, used at Ispahan.

Charles Lockyer.
An Account of the Trade in India.
London: Printed for the Author, and sold by Samuel Crouch, 1711.
Page 229.

7

(n) “maund means an Indian maund of 82²⁄₇ pounds avoirdupois weight.”

The Bombay Salt Act, 1890.
H. M. Birdwood and H. J. Parsons, editors.
The Acts of the Legislature in Force in the Presidency of Bombay. Vol XI, 1887-1890.
Bombay: Education Society's Press, Byculla, 1891.
Page 648.

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