Page:Gazetteer of the province of Oudh ... (IA cu31924024153987).pdf/246

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BAH

168

Tke -whok subject is mvolred in confusion because we have broken down the panseri system. "We have raised the weight of the rupee on which it was based from 172 to 180 grains we no longer furnish the legal unit of weight upon which the whole metrical system of Upper The rupee, the ganda, the India, at least as far as I know, was founded.

kachcha maund, formed the ancient series; but the rupee, was, I know, originally 173 grains, see Prinsep's Useful Tables, page 8, and for the LucknoW coinage, page 56. panseri, the

The present rupee weighs 180 grains ; the local dealers after a time follow each variation of the unit, and endeavour to adopt their panseri to it bxit as there is no legal unit of weight a simple multiple of which Would constitute any weight in ordinary bazar use, it is almost impossible' to test the correctness of any bazar weight except by comparison with those used by men of probity in the immediate neighbourhood. ,



In conclusion I may simply state that th-e panseri, the local unit, should weigh 32 gandas that each of those gandas should weigh about 5^ rupees sikka of 192 grains, or six Farukhabad rupees of 180 grains. The Government ser and maund weights have been introduced, and it is to be hoped that their adoption will shortly be rendered compulsory. Practically, the rupee is the initial unit, and all inquiry into rattis or ghunghchis

is,

for agricultural or trade purposes, useless.

The uncertainty of the weight not only opens a door to fraud, but. renders conviction for it practically impossible, when local officers are ignorant of principles which guide the native metrical system a system by which nine-tenths of all trade operations are still conducted. In Bahraich. bazar I tested a grain-dealer's panseri weight he admitted it ought ta weigh 32 gandas each of six Machhlidar rupees (each 173 grains, vide It did weigh two sers and six chhataks. Prinsep's Tables). Now a ser equals 14,400 grains, and it will appear that it really did weigh 32 gandas, each of six rupees of 178 grains, and that the local maund :so weighed will weigh exactly 18 bazar sers or 17| imperial sers. According to the proportion used by Gtovernment in making up the official grain-rates, the panseri should have been f |- of the Government ser, or two sers four and a half chhatdk. By his own admission this grain-dealer's weight, which w^as only used in huying grain, was nearly four per cent, too heavy. The weight consisted of a large stone to which additional matter had been glued on at the bottom with strong resin. This dealer had adroitly adopted the altered coinage so as to get his grain cheaper. The tobacco 'maund in Bahraich, as in Sitapur, consists of 25 panseri, or more than three ordinary maunds.

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The

measure was referred to weight, the "kanch" or bottle conta™°f .t^^^ee pao Or sixty tolas weight of liquid. In Liquid measures and stich things as Oil, &c., no fixed measure was used, the measures of capacity. actual weight only determining the quantity. The " kanch" was used chiefly to measure wine and spirits. Fixed measures of capacity there were none. liquid

The standard measure for length was the Long measure.

" hath," which was the average length of the forearms of three men taken at random. From a comparison of the different standard yard