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BANKING TRADE AND COMMERCE
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WEIGHTS AND MEASURES
The weights and measures till recently differed from place to place and some times for each commodity at the same place. The following extract taken from the old Yeotmal District Gazetteer gives an interesting historical account about the weights and measures prevailing in the district at the time of its publication in 1908: —
" The weights and measures of the district are in a state of hopeless confusion. It would he no very serious exaggeration to say that every article has its own table and every market town gives the tables its own meaning. Thus at Pusad juari is sold by measure, mapane, and a maund (man), means 96 seers (ser). Wheat, gram and rice are sold by weight, wajanane, and a maund means for the first 97 seers, for the second 103. and for the third 109 seers. At Pusad 80 tolas make a seer, and 480 tolas a paili. At Darwha a seer contains 42½ tolas, and a paili 170. At Yeotmal a paili has 160 tolas, at Pandharkawada sometimes 110 and sometimes 115, and at Wun 120. Besides this special terms are in use for one article but not for another, or in one village but not in the next: and the actual weights and measures in the shops are often designedly or accidentally inaccurate. Careful enquiries about the meaning of every term used are needed whenever strangers raise any question about quantities. This confusion seems to he generally recognised as an evil, but people feel unable to remedy it themselves. It is impossible to give either a complete or a representative list of these tables, but some of the terms in ordinary use are given. In tables of weight common terms are tola, chhatak, ser, sawaser, adsadi, pasri. dhada, and man. In tables of measure they are tola ser, paili, kudawa, man, and khandi. For precious metals the scale runs gunja, wal, masha, and tola. Cotton has a special scale — ser, man, bojha, and khandi. At Yeotmal cotton market it has been fixed for both cleaned and uncleaned cotton as — 21 lbs. make 1 ser; 14 sers make 1 man; 10 mans make 1 bojha; and 2 bojhas (or 560 lbs) make 1 khandi. The only
point of agreement between the different systems is that a tola is almost universally considered to mean the weight of a rupee, though again goldsmiths arc said to insist that the rupee must not be quite a new one. In measures of length and depth English terms are largely used when precision is needed and the more important vernacular terms are made to correspond with certain English units. Thus 1 hat, hand, or more properly fore-arm, measured from the tip of the middle finger to the inner bone of the elbow, is considered exactly 18 inches. A war, the term being used for measuring cloth, and a gaj. a term used in other cases, are each considered exactly one yard. Other terms are bot, finger, meaning generally the breadth of a finger, but sometimes also the length on the inside of the middle finger; tasu, meaning the breadth of two fingers and considered to be one-twelfth of a hat; wit, a span, considered to be one-half of a hat: and kawatal, the space a man can cover with his arms out stretch. In speaking of depth the Word purush, man, is used with the meaning of the height to
which a man can raise his hands; and the word hatti meaning the depth of water required to drown an elephant, the exact depth needed being admittedly uncertain. In measures of area there are 42 gunthas in an acre, and about 4 acres in a tifan. The word bigha was formerly used, meaning apparently a little less than a acre: but the word is not used now. "
To avoid the difficulties created in the inter-regional trade, a uniform system of weights and measures was adopted by the Government of India and an Act known as the Standards of Weights and Measures Act. 1956, was enacted. Consequently the then Bombay Government passed the Bombay Weights and Measures (Enforcement) Act, 1958, which introduced weights and measures based on metric system in the State.
Even with the enforcement of the Act old units of measure and weight such as ser, adheli, payali, kudo, khandi, pasari, maund, etc., are still prevalent in some parts of the district. With the passage of time and acclimatisation of the people with the new system the same will be gradually replaced.
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