Page:Gódávari.djvu/146

 120 GODAVARI. CHAP. VI. Weights AND Measures. Miscel- laneous commercial notations. Lineal measures It will be noticed that the Bhadrachalam gidda and tavva are twice as large as those elsewhere, and the Bhadrachalam kuncham two and a half times as large. Ghee and oil, as already stated, are sold wholesale by measure. The largest measure used for oil is the kuncham, and for ghee the seer. Butter-milk and curd are measured in small pots called miDithas. It is the practice in this district to set milk for curd in a number of these small pots, instead of in one large pot as is done in some southern districts, and the pots are sold separately. There are four usual sizes of them ; namely, the quarter anna, half anna, three-quarter anna and anna munthas, so called according to the price (and so the capacity) of each. An anna miintha holds about half a seer. Milk is sold by the seer and its submultiples. Large quantities of milk are sometimes spoken of in terms of the kadava or kdvadi, which hold 20 and 40 seers respectively. Popular phrases to denote capacity are the closed handful, called guppedu or pidikedu, the open handful or chdredu, and the double handful or dosed 11. Fruits {e.g., mangoes, plantains, cocoanuts and guavas), palmyra leaves, and dung cakes are sold by ' hands,' one hand or cheyyi being equivalent to five. Twenty cheyyis make one salaga, and for every salaga one cheyyi extra is thrown in as kosani or ' for luck.' Kosarn means ' bargaining.' Betel leaves are sold wholesale by the nwda. This is a varying quantity equivalent generally to 200 or 300 leaves according to their thickness. It is supposed to be the quantity that can be held in the two hands, when the hands are pressed together at the wrist, as when catching a cricket ball. The leaves are sold retail by the katta, which contains lOO leaves. The old native scale of measures is in use alongside with the English inch, foot and yard. The native scale is :— I angida ... ... ... = the breadth of a man's thumb, or f inch. ... ... = I y'tt/zfl (span). = I mura (cubit). = I hara (fathom). = I kbss {7 miles). 1= I nmada (about nine miles). 6 kosscs ... ... ... = 1 majlH (march, or halt- ing place ; about i;; miles). Besides these, there are the betta, or the breadth of four fingers placed together, and the loditha, or half span, made by 12 angulas 2 janas 4 muras 2,000 bilras 4 kbsses