Written and fact-checked by Aadil Saif. Arithmetic independently re-verified · Last updated September 2026
Part of the India Land Unit Converter series.
The conversion is one multiplication and the ladder above it (20 marla to the kanal, 8 kanal to the killa) is already published on the Acre page, so this page does not re-derive it. What the research found instead is that almost everything written about where the kanal is used is wrong in a way that can be measured, and that in Jammu & Kashmir the word carries a statutory sense in which it is not an area at all. Every count below prints the query that produced it and the date it was run, because a count without those is not evidence.
1 kanal = 5,445 square feet = 605 square yards = 20 marla = ⅛ acre = 505.8570528 square metres, at the standard 66-inch karam.
| One kanal, in | Amount | Terminates? |
|---|---|---|
| Square feet | 5,445 | yes |
| Square yards | 605 | yes |
| Marla | 20 | yes |
| Acre, and killa | 0.125 | yes; the killa is the acre |
| Hectares | 0.05058570528 | yes |
| Square metres | 505.8570528 | yes |
| Kanal | Square Feet | Marla (Standard) | Killa | Acre | Hectare |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5,445 | 20 | 0.125 | 0.125 | 0.05058570528 |
| 2 | 10,890 | 40 | 0.25 | 0.25 | 0.10117141056 |
| 3 | 16,335 | 60 | 0.375 | 0.375 | 0.15175711584 |
| 5 | 27,225 | 100 | 0.625 | 0.625 | 0.2529285264 |
| 10 | 54,450 | 200 | 1.25 | 1.25 | 0.5058570528 |
| 20 | 108,900 | 400 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 1.0117141056 |
| 50 | 272,250 | 1,000 | 6.25 | 6.25 | 2.529285264 |
| 100 | 544,500 | 2,000 | 12.5 | 12.5 | 5.058570528 |
| 200 | 1,089,000 | 4,000 | 25 | 25 | 10.117141056 |
| 500 | 2,722,500 | 10,000 | 62.5 | 62.5 | 25.29285264 |
| 1,000 | 5,445,000 | 20,000 | 125 | 125 | 50.58570528 |
Three things that table does not say.
The 66-inch karam is one of four. Punjab and Haryana measured in at least four karam lengths, and the kanal follows the karam: 5,445 square feet at 66 inches, 4,500 at 60, 4,132.8125 at 57.5, 3,645 at 54. A kanal figure without a belt is a figure with a 49.4% range in it. The belts are set out below and the karam's own length, the harder question, belongs to the Square Karam page.
No instrument states the size. The ratios are sourced: 20 marla to the kanal and 8 kanal to the acre come from Punjab's Land Records Manual and are published with the acre's own ladder. The size (5,445 square feet) is a different claim, and this page found no statute or rule that makes it. What it found is set out in "Where 5,445 Comes From, and Where It Does Not".
In one jurisdiction the word is not always an area. Jammu & Kashmir's agrarian-reform statute counts in standard acres and standard kanals, which are quality-weighted measures, not areas. The same ceiling is 100, 110, 140 or 171 physical kanals depending on the category of the land. That is a 71% spread inside one statutory limit, and it is the reason this page exists rather than pointing at a sibling.
Convert The answer, first · To square feet, yards and metres · To acre, killa and marla · The small units
Understand The kanal's real territory · The standard kanal is not an area · Sarsai, sarsahi, or square feet · Where 5,445 comes from · The belt changes the kanal · Five mistakes
Check FAQ · Sources and method
Convert to a specific unit: Acre · Ankanam · Ares · Bigha · Biswa · Biswa Kacha · Cent · Chatak · Decimal · Dhur · Dismil · Gaj · Gajam · Ground · Guntha · Hectare · Katha · Killa · Lessa · Marla · Murabba · Nali · Perch · Pura · Square Centimeter · Square Feet · Square Inch · Square Karam · Square Kilometer · Square Meter · Square Mile · Square Yard
Every one of the other thirty-two units has a section on this page. Where two units are the same area their table would be identical, so the second section points at the first rather than repeating it.
Every factor is a kanal's own size, 5,445 square feet, divided by the target unit's. To check any row by hand, take that number, divide, and compare.
Each one comes from a single anchor, the acre at 43,560 square feet, by exact fraction arithmetic. Where a factor recurs, the formula gives the fraction rather than a rounded decimal, because a rounded factor is a wrong instruction rather than an approximate one: the fraction is what has to be carried wherever the arithmetic must close. Every row below is computed on the Standard (66-inch karam) definition of the kanal, 5,445 square feet. The other definitions, and what each is attested by, are in the regional table on this page; a row read against the wrong one is wrong by the ratio between them.
| Conversion | Formula | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Kanal to Acre | Kanal × 0.125 | Exact |
| Kanal to Ankanam | Kanal × 75.625 | Exact · Ankanam is regional. This row is the Standard; also 151.25 |
| Kanal to Ares | Kanal × 5.058570528 | Exact |
| Kanal to Bigha | Kanal × 0.25 | Exact · Bigha is regional. This row is the Punjab / west Haryana; also 0.2, 0.6, 0.8 and 5 more |
| Kanal to Biswa | Kanal × 12 | Exact · Biswa is regional. This row is the Punjab / Haryana old records; also 4, 6.25, 12.5 |
| Kanal to Biswa Kacha | Kanal × 12 | Exact · Biswa Kacha is regional. This row is the Punjab / Haryana revenue; also 6.25 |
| Kanal to Cent | Kanal × 12.5 | Exact |
| Kanal to Chatak | Kanal × 121 | Exact |
| Kanal to Decimal | Kanal × 12.5 | Exact |
| Kanal to Dhur | Kanal × 80 | Exact · Dhur is regional. This row is the Bihar / Jharkhand (Patna chain); also 1,512.5 |
| Kanal to Dismil | Kanal × 12.5 | Exact |
| Kanal to Gaj | Kanal × 605 | Exact |
| Kanal to Gajam | Kanal × 605 | Exact |
| Kanal to Ground | Kanal × 2.26875 | Exact |
| Kanal to Guntha | Kanal × 5 | Exact |
| Kanal to Hectare | Kanal × 0.05058570528 | Exact |
| Kanal to Katha | Kanal × 4 | Exact · Katha is regional. This row is the Bihar state standard; also 7.5625, 1.890625, 3.125 and 2 more |
| Kanal to Killa | Kanal × 0.125 | Exact |
| Kanal to Lessa | Kanal × 37.8125 | Exact |
| Kanal to Marla | Kanal × 20 | Exact · Fixed in every belt. Kanal and Marla are both the karam squared, so a shorter karam changes the size of both and not the count of one in the other |
| Kanal to Murabba | Kanal × 0.005 | Exact · Murabba is regional. This row is the Punjab canal colony; also 0.008 |
| Kanal to Nali | Kanal × 121/48 | Recurring |
| Kanal to Perch | Kanal × 20 | Exact |
| Kanal to Pura | Kanal × 0.09453125 | Exact |
| Kanal to Square Centimeter | Kanal × 5,058,570.528 | Exact |
| Kanal to Square Feet | Kanal × 5,445 | Exact |
| Kanal to Square Inch | Kanal × 784,080 | Exact |
| Kanal to Square Karam | Kanal × 180 | Exact · Fixed in every belt. Kanal and Square Karam are both the karam squared, so a shorter karam changes the size of both and not the count of one in the other |
| Kanal to Square Kilometer | Kanal × 0.0005058570528 | Exact |
| Kanal to Square Meter | Kanal × 505.8570528 | Exact |
| Kanal to Square Mile | Kanal × 0.0001953125 | Exact |
| Kanal to Square Yard | Kanal × 605 | Exact |
Every converter site that names the kanal's territory names the same four places: Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir. That list is not wrong so much as unweighted, and the weights reverse two of its entries.
The test is simple and repeatable. Indian Kanoon carries the reported judgments of each High Court. If a state's land is written in a unit, that unit turns up in the litigation about it. Counting the same two words in each court's own corpus gives a measure of which unit the record is actually kept in.
| High Court corpus | kanal |
bigha |
Ratio |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jammu & Kashmir | 3,307 | 3 | about 1,102 : 1 toward the kanal |
| Punjab & Haryana | 15,658 | 4,762 | about 3.3 : 1 toward the kanal |
| Himachal Pradesh | 935 | 4,977 | about 5.3 : 1 toward the bigha |
| All courts | 37,666 | n/a | n/a |
Queries: kanal doctypes:jammu, bigha doctypes:jammu, and the same pairs with doctypes:punjab and doctypes:himachal_pradesh; run 9 September 2026.
Two results follow, and both cut against the usual description.
Jammu & Kashmir is the purest kanal jurisdiction in India. Three thousand three hundred and seven documents use the kanal; three use the bigha, 1,102 to one. Punjab and Haryana (the jurisdiction the unit is named for, and the one every explanation starts with) run about three and a third to one, because the Punjab record also carries a live bigha in parts of Haryana and along the old UP frontier. In J&K there is no competing traditional unit in the reported record at all.
Himachal Pradesh is a bigha state. It appears on every kanal list, and its High Court's record is more than five to one the other way. The kanal is present in Himachal (935 documents, running from 1984 to 2026), but look at what they are: overwhelmingly land-acquisition matters quoting compensation per kanal. That is the kanal used as a rate denominator, not as the unit the holding is recorded in. A Himachal reader who arrives here holding a revenue extract is, on this evidence, more likely to be holding bighas. Himachal's bigha belongs to that unit's own account and this page does not take it further.
Indian Kanoon accepts a doctypes: filter and silently ignores a token it does not recognise, returning the unfiltered corpus instead of an error. The first pass of this research asked for kanal doctypes:himachal and got 37,666, which is the count for kanal with no filter at all. The number looked implausible for one High Court, which is the only reason it was caught.
Every count on this page was therefore validated twice before being published: once against a nonsense term, which must return zero (zzzqqxk doctypes:himachal_pradesh → 0), and once against the unfiltered count, which must differ (kanal → 37,666 against kanal doctypes:himachal_pradesh → 935). doctypes:himachal is dead; doctypes:himachal_pradesh is live. A count that has not survived both checks is not published here.
That paragraph is method, not padding. A corpus count is only as good as the filter behind it, and a filter that fails open produces confident numbers that are simply the whole database.
This is the part of the subject that no converter explains, and it is the part that can cost a J&K landholder a case.
The Jammu and Kashmir Agrarian Reforms Act 1976 sets a ceiling on how much land one person may hold. Section 2 states it like this:
"ceiling area" means the extent of land measuring twelve and a half standard acres
and then defines the measure it has just used:
"standard acre" means a measure of an area convertible into an ordinary acre of land in accordance with the provisions of Schedule I
Read those two clauses together. A standard acre is not an acre. It is a unit that converts into an acre by a schedule, and a schedule that has to do work is a schedule whose factor is not one. The standard acre is a productivity-weighted measure: good land counts for more of it per physical acre than poor land does.
The kanal inherits this exactly. Section 2 goes on to express the same ceiling in ordinary kanals, category by category:
| Land category | The ceiling, in ordinary kanals |
|---|---|
| I | 100 (12½ acres, at 8 kanal to the acre) |
| II | 110 |
| III | 140 |
| IV | 171 |
One statutory limit. Four physical sizes. The largest is 71% more land than the smallest, 171 kanals against 100, and both are lawfully "twelve and a half standard acres".
The J&K High Court converts at the ordinary ratio, and writes it in a way that is easy to misread:
| Judgment | Date | What it says |
|---|---|---|
| Jatinder Kumar and Ors. v. Dewan Diwakar Rai and Ors. | 3 August 2018 | "he could not retain more than 12 ½ standards acres, i.e., 100 Kanals of land" |
| Kanta Andotra v. Central Bureau of Investigation | 19 April 2023 | "100 standard kanals (12 ½ standard Acre)" |
The second is the careful one. It writes standard kanals, and 100 standard kanals to 12½ standard acres is just the ordinary 8-to-1 ladder applied inside the standard system, the weighting cancels, because both sides carry it. The first drops the adjective, and "12 ½ standard acres, i.e., 100 Kanals" reads, to anyone who does not already know the Act, as a statement that the ceiling is 100 physical kanals.
It is not. For Category IV land it is 171.
Only four documents in the entire J&K corpus put standard acres and kanals together in one place ("standard acres" "kanals" doctypes:jammu, 9 September 2026). This is not a well-explained corner of the law; it is a corner explained twice, once carefully and once loosely.
Yes, and it is worth saying so on a page dated 2026, because a reader who follows Jammu & Kashmir at all knows its land laws were rewritten after the 2019 reorganisation.
The Agrarian Reforms Act 1976 was amended, not repealed. The adaptation orders of 26 October 2020 repealed two other J&K land statutes outright, the Alienation of Land Act 1938 and the Big Landed Estates Abolition Act 1950, and amended the 1976 Act's provisions on transfer and lease, removing the permanent-resident restriction and opening the way to contract farming. On the material located for this page those amendments do not touch section 2, which is where the ceiling, the standard acre and the category kanal figures sit. That repeal-and-amendment split is press-reported; this page has not located the adaptation order itself, and follows this series' rule of naming a press source as a press source.
What this page does not say is whether the ceiling is still enforced in practice. How many surplus proceedings run, or what happens to land already vested. That is a question about administration rather than about the text, and it is not one a converter should answer.
Schedule I is the table that would give the actual conversion factor for each category. Every retrievable copy of the Act truncates it. The University of Kashmir's local-laws compilation and the commercial bare-act copies alike stop before the table resolves. This page therefore states the structure of the schedule and no number from it.
One further figure is refused. A sentence printed alongside the Act in the University of Kashmir compilation, under the heading MEASUREMENT OF LAND IN KASHMIR, says "One standard acre is equal to 5 kanals and 14 Marlas as per schedule." Five kanals fourteen marlas is 5.7 kanals, which would make a standard acre smaller than an ordinary one, when Category I already sits at the ordinary 8. The two cannot both be right, the sentence is editorial commentary rather than enacted text, and nothing on this page rests on it.
An area in this system is written in three places: kanals, marlas, and whatever comes below the marla. The third place is where the two sides of the Pir Panjal part company, and it is worth knowing before you read a document.
| Spelling of the third place | Jammu & Kashmir HC | Punjab & Haryana HC |
|---|---|---|
sarsahi |
0 | 223 |
sarsai |
83 | 260 |
Queries as shown, with doctypes:jammu and doctypes:punjab; run 9 September 2026.
Punjab writes it both ways. Jammu & Kashmir writes it one way and never the other. Not "rarely": the J&K corpus returns zero documents for sarsahi, against 3,307 that use the kanal. If you are searching a J&K record, or a J&K judgment, for the smallest unit in the ladder, searching for sarsahi will find nothing at all.
A caution on the count: sarsai is also a place name. Narrowing to documents that use the word alongside the two units above it, "kanals" "marlas" "sarsai" doctypes:jammu, gives 47, and those are unambiguous:
"land measuring 66 Kanals 2 Marlas and 6 Sarsai underlying different Khasra Numbers"
"measuring 18 Kanal 10 Marlas, 4 kanal 5 marlas 8 Sarsai, 28 kanal 5 marlas"
The other 36 were not read, so this page does not say what they are, only that the narrowed query, which cannot match a village name standing alone, returns 47. The 47 is the number this page relies on; the 83 is disclosed so that a reader repeating the search is not surprised by it.
There is a form of the same entry that Punjab does not use, and it is genuinely useful when you meet it:
"respondents to regularize the leased land measuring 6 kanals, 8 marlas and 212 square feet"
"land measuring 88 kanals, 01 marlas, 219 square feet, situated in village Ban, Tehsil Nagrota"
"4 kanals 2 marlas and 197 square feet"
"kanals" "marlas" "square feet" doctypes:jammu returns 13 documents that write the third place directly in square feet, against the 47 that use the sarsai. Treat that as a rough weight and not a proportion: these are two phrase queries over the same corpus, a document can satisfy both, and neither was read in full. What the pair supports is the ordering, the sarsai is the usual third place and the square foot is the uncommon one, not a figure like "one in five".
It is also self-checking. A third place has to be smaller than one marla, or it would have been carried into the marla column. Three remainders were read (212, 219 and 197), and all three are below 272.25. That is consistent with the J&K marla being the standard 272.25 square feet, and three specimens are not a proof of it, but a document quoting, say, 400 square feet in the third place would be evidence of a different marla, and none was found.
Take 4 kanals 2 marlas and 197 square feet, at the standard karam.
| Part | Marlas | Square feet |
|---|---|---|
| 4 kanals | 80 | 21,780 |
| 2 marlas | 2 | 544.5 |
| 197 square feet | 0.7236… | 197 |
| Total | 82.7236… | 22,521.5 |
22,521.5 square feet is 4.1362 kanals, or 0.517 acre, just over half an acre. Note what the decimal costs you: written as 4.14 kanals it looks like a rounding; written as 4 kanals 2 marlas 197 square feet it is exact to the square foot, which is why the record writes it that way.
And note the trap in the middle row. Two marlas is 544.5 square feet, not 544, and not 545. The half square foot is real, it is there because 272.25 is not an integer, and it is the reason a marla figure and a square-foot figure that both look exact can disagree by a few feet after enough additions.
The number at the top of this page is the one every source gives. It is almost certainly right. It is also, on the evidence located for this page, reported rather than sourced, and the difference matters enough to state plainly.
What is sourced. The ratios are. Twenty marla to the kanal, eight kanal to the acre, nine sarsahi to the marla: these come from Punjab's Land Records Manual and are set out with their citations on the Acre page and the Marla page. Given 20 marla to the kanal and a marla of 272.25 square feet, 5,445 follows by multiplication and needs no separate authority.
What is not sourced is the marla, in Jammu & Kashmir. The J&K Land Revenue Act 1996, the Act that governs the record the kanal is written in, defines no unit of area at all. Section 3 runs to eighteen definition clauses covering estate, land, land-holder, holding and land revenue, and not one of them is a measure. Chapter IX, sections 93 to 103, is headed Surveys and Boundaries and deals with demarcation, survey-marks and the procedure for both; section 93 leaves the manner of demarcation to rules the Government may make, and specifies no unit. Searched for, and not found.
Where the 5,445 sentence actually appears. The University of Kashmir's compilation of local land laws prints, under the heading MEASUREMENT OF LAND IN KASHMIR:
"Nowadays the land is measured in square feet and in terms of such measurement one marla is equal to 272 ¼ square feet and one kanal of land which constitutes 20 marlas is equal to 5445 square feet."
That is a clear, correct and useful sentence. It is also editorial commentary printed alongside the Agrarian Reforms Act, not enacted text, no section number, no rule number, no schedule. It is evidence that the figure is settled and uncontroversial. It is not an instrument, and this page does not describe it as one.
So: every value on this page derived from 5,445 carries that grade. The arithmetic is exact; the input is reported. That is a different and weaker claim than the one this series makes about, say, the hectare, and a reader entitled to know which is which should be told which is which.
One J&K judgment prices land in both units at once, and its arithmetic does not close.
In Ghulam Mohd Matta and Anr. v. State and Ors. (J&K High Court, 24 March 2005), compensation was recorded as having been assessed
"at the rate of Rs 9/- per square feet, which came to Rs 48960/- per kanal"
Divide: 48,960 ÷ 9 = 5,440 square feet to the kanal. Five square feet short of 5,445, an error of 0.0918%, five square feet in five and a half thousand.
Three explanations are available and this page picks none of them: the assessing officer used a round 5,440; the rate was not exactly ₹9 and the judgment rounded it; or the figure was transcribed. What can be said is what the number is not. It is not a second definition of the kanal. Nothing else in the J&K corpus repeats 5,440, and no ladder in this series produces it: 5,440 is not 20 of anything the marla could plausibly be, since 5,440 ÷ 20 = 272 exactly, which is 272.25 with the quarter dropped.
That last line is probably the answer. A marla rounded from 272¼ to 272 gives a kanal of 5,440. It is offered as the likeliest reading and not as a finding, because one judgment's arithmetic is not evidence of a practice.
The kanal is twenty marla and the marla is a square karam of nine. Those ratios hold everywhere. What does not hold is the karam, and the kanal is the square of it.
| Belt | Karam | One kanal, sq ft | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | 66 in | 5,445 | the general Punjab and Haryana measure, and the value J&K's practice reports |
| Majha | 60 in | 4,500 | Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Tarn Taran side |
| Doaba | 57.5 in | 4,132.8125 | Jalandhar, Kapurthala and Hoshiarpur, and Kangra in Himachal |
| Kapurthala | 54 in | 3,645 | Kapurthala's own measure |
The largest is 49.4% bigger than the smallest. Not a rounding difference: a difference that turns half an acre into three-quarters of one.
Two things follow that are easy to get wrong.
The belt is a property of the karam, not of the kanal. The kanal does not have four definitions; the karam does, and the kanal, the marla and the sarsahi all move together as its square. So a document that gives you kanals and marlas gives you no new information about the belt. The ratio between them is 20 in every belt. The only things that fix the belt are the district, the settlement, or a square-foot figure stated alongside.
Jammu & Kashmir is not one of the four belts. The belts are a Punjab-and-Haryana phenomenon, recorded in Punjab's own manual. J&K's practice reports the 66-inch value, and this page has said what that report rests on. No J&K belt variation was found in the corpus, and absence of evidence at 3,307 documents is worth more than absence of evidence at thirty, but it is still not a statement that no variation exists.
The page has just told you the answer swings by 49.4%. Here is how to settle it, cheapest first.
The karam's own length (why 66 inches, and what fixes it) belongs to the square karam, and it is a harder question than it looks.
Square feet = Kanal × 5,445 · reverse Kanal = Square feet ÷ 5,445
At the standard karam these three conversions all terminate, which is unusual, most of this series' regional units give a recurring decimal somewhere. The kanal does not, for a reason worth one sentence: 5,445 = 3² × 5 × 11², and a square foot converts to a square yard by 9 and to a square metre by an exact decimal, so nothing in the chain introduces a prime the denominator cannot clear.
| One kanal is | Exactly |
|---|---|
| Square feet | 5,445 |
| Square yards | 605 |
| Square metres | 505.8570528 |
| Square inches | 784,080 |
Square yards is the one to remember. Punjab, Haryana and J&K all price residential land per square yard, and 605 is a small, memorable number: a kanal is six hundred and five square yards, a marla is thirty and a quarter. A great deal of loose conversion happens because thirty is easier to say than thirty and a quarter. That slip is 0.826% low, and what it costs on a real plot is quantified where the marla's two figures are set out.
A note on the spelling: this page writes metre, centimetre and kilometre in its own prose, which is Indian usage, and Meter, Centimeter and Kilometer in the headings of the generated sections below, because those are the spellings the conversions are searched for in. Each pair is one SI unit under two spellings, not two quantities.
Square metres is exact but ugly. 505.8570528 is not a number anyone quotes, and a J&K or Punjab document giving metric will normally have rounded it. If you are reconciling a metric figure to a kanal figure, expect a gap of up to half a square metre per kanal from that rounding alone, and do not treat the gap as a discrepancy in the land.
The ladder is already published on the Acre page and this page will not re-derive it. What a reader needs here is the three positions the kanal occupies in it:
Everything below the marla, and every metric and imperial conversion on the ladder, is in the conversion core further down this page, computed for eleven quantities against each of the other thirty-two units.
A kanal divides exactly into every small metric and imperial unit, because 5,445 square feet is a whole number of square inches (784,080) and the foot-to-metre conversion is exact by definition. Square centimetres, square inches, square kilometres and square miles are all in the conversion core below with no recurring decimals anywhere in the forward direction. The reverse direction is where the recurrence appears: a square metre is not a whole number of anything in this ladder.
Converting without knowing the belt. This is the largest one on the page and it is the one nobody lists. The four karam belts put a 49.4% range on the same kanal figure (5,445 square feet against 3,645), so a conversion done before the belt is settled is not a rounding away from the answer, it is up to half an acre away in ten. How to settle it takes four steps and usually stops at the first.
Taking a marla as thirty square yards. It is thirty and a quarter. Twenty of them is 605 square yards to the kanal, not 600. The slip is 0.826% low and it compounds: on a 10-kanal plot it loses 50 square yards.
Reading a J&K ceiling figure as an area. "12½ standard acres" and "100 standard kanals" are quality-weighted measures, and the physical land behind the same ceiling runs from 100 kanals to 171, 71% more land under the identical statutory limit, decided by the category of the land and nothing on the face of the figure. The Standard Kanal Is Not an Area sets out how to tell. Nothing else on this page has this failure mode.
Assuming a Himachal record is in kanals. Its High Court's corpus is more than five to one bighas. Check the extract before converting.
Searching a J&K record for "sarsahi". The J&K corpus returns zero for that spelling and 83 for sarsai. The unit is there; the spelling is not.
How many square feet are in one kanal? 5,445 at the standard 66-inch karam, exactly 20 marla of 272.25 square feet each. In the Majha belt it is 4,500, in Doaba 4,132.8125, in Kapurthala 3,645. The size follows the karam, and the karam varies by district.
How many marla in a kanal, and how many kanal in an acre? Twenty and eight. Both are exact and both come from Punjab's Land Records Manual, cited on the Acre page. One kanal is one-eighth of an acre.
Is the Jammu & Kashmir kanal the same size as the Punjab kanal? Every source that gives a figure gives 5,445 square feet for both, and nothing found in 3,307 J&K documents contradicts it. But the J&K Land Revenue Act 1996 defines no unit of area, and the 5,445 sentence available for J&K is editorial commentary rather than enacted text. So: almost certainly the same, on reported rather than sourced evidence, which is why this page says so instead of just printing the number.
What is a "standard acre" or a "standard kanal"? A quality-weighted measure used by the J&K Agrarian Reforms Act 1976. Section 2 defines a standard acre as "a measure of an area convertible into an ordinary acre of land in accordance with the provisions of Schedule I". That is, it is not an acre. The Act's ceiling of 12½ standard acres works out to 100 ordinary kanals for the best category and 171 for the fourth. Do not convert a standard acre at 43,560 square feet.
Is Himachal Pradesh a kanal state? Not in its own High Court's record. Himachal returns 935 kanal documents against 4,977 bigha documents, and the kanal ones are mostly acquisition compensation quoted per kanal rather than holdings recorded in kanals.
How do I read "4 kanal 2 marla 197 square feet"? Left to right, largest to smallest: 21,780 + 544.5 + 197 = 22,521.5 square feet, which is 4.1362 kanals or 0.517 acre. The third place is written in square feet in a minority of J&K entries; the sarsai is the usual one.
Why does one judgment work out to 5,440 square feet per kanal? Ghulam Mohd Matta v. State (24 March 2005) records ₹9 per square foot "which came to Rs 48960/- per kanal", and 48,960 ÷ 9 is 5,440. The likeliest reading is a marla rounded from 272¼ to 272; 5,440 ÷ 20 = 272 exactly. It is not a second definition of the kanal, and nothing else in the corpus repeats it.
Instruments. Jammu and Kashmir Land Revenue Act 1996, s.3 (definitions, eighteen clauses, no unit of area) and Chapter IX, ss. 93–103 (Surveys and Boundaries; s.93 delegates the manner of demarcation to rules and specifies no unit). Jammu and Kashmir Agrarian Reforms Act 1976, s.2, "ceiling area" and "standard acre", and the category figures of 110, 140 and 171 ordinary kanals, which two independent copies of the Act state identically.
Judgments, each cited in the body by name and date: Jatinder Kumar and Ors. v. Dewan Diwakar Rai and Ors. (3 August 2018); Kanta Andotra v. Central Bureau of Investigation (19 April 2023); Ghulam Mohd Matta and Anr. v. State and Ors. (24 March 2005); and the three area specimens quoted in "Sarsai, Sarsahi, or Square Feet", from J&K judgments of 2008, 2024 and 2026.
Corpus counts. All run on Indian Kanoon, 9 September 2026, with the query printed beside each. doctypes: tokens were validated before use: a nonsense term must return zero under the same filter, and the filtered count must differ from the unfiltered one. doctypes:himachal failed both tests, it is silently ignored and returns the whole corpus, and doctypes:himachal_pradesh passed. This is disclosed because the first pass of this research was wrong for exactly that reason.
The ladder is not sourced here. Twenty marla to the kanal, eight kanal to the acre, nine sarsahi to the marla, and the four karam belts are established with their citations on the Acre page, the Marla page and the Square Karam page. This page cites them and does not restate the evidence.
Evidence grade on the central value. 5,445 square feet is reported, not sourced, for Jammu & Kashmir. No statute or rule stating it was located; the sentence that states it is editorial commentary printed with the Agrarian Reforms Act. Every value on this page derived from 5,445 inherits that grade, and the arithmetic being exact does not upgrade it.
What could not be verified, and is asserted nowhere on this page. Schedule I of the Agrarian Reforms Act, the table that would give each category's actual conversion factor, is truncated in every retrievable copy, so no figure from it appears here. The commentary sentence "One standard acre is equal to 5 kanals and 14 Marlas" is rejected as inconsistent with the Act's own Category I figure. Whether any J&K district uses a karam other than 66 inches was searched for and not found, which is not the same as established. And the J&K Land Grants Rules 2022, which might state areas with metric equivalents, could not be retrieved: the department's server refused automated access, and no figure from it is used.
| Conversion | 1 Kanal | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Acre | 0.125 | Exact; Exact by definition: 43,560 sq ft = 4,840 sq yd |
| Ankanam | 75.625 (Standard) | Region-specific; also 151.25 (Tirupati) |
| Ares | 5.058570528 | Exact; 100 m², the metric are |
| Bigha | 0.25 (Punjab / west Haryana) | Region-specific; also 0.2 (UP pucca / Bihar / Rajasthan pucca) · 0.6 (UP kachha (6⅔ biswa)) · 0.8 (UP kachha (5 biswa) / Uttarakhand hills) |
| Biswa | 12 (Punjab / Haryana old records) | Region-specific; also 4 (UP / Rajasthan pucca) · 6.25 (Rajasthan kachha) · 12.5 (Himachal Pradesh) |
| Biswa Kacha | 12 (Punjab / Haryana revenue definition) | Region-specific; also 6.25 (Rajasthan kachha reading) |
| Cent | 12.5 | Exact; One hundredth of an acre, exactly |
| Chatak | 121 | Exact; 5 sq yd exactly; 16 to the cottah, 968 to the acre. Reported, not stated by any instrument located |
| Decimal | 12.5 | Exact; One hundredth of an acre, exactly |
| Dhur | 80 (Bihar / Jharkhand (Patna chain)) | Region-specific; also 1,512.5 (Tripura) |
| Dismil | 12.5 | Exact; The decimal under another name |
| Gaj | 605 | Exact; The square yard, 9 sq ft |
| Gajam | 605 | Exact; The square yard in Telugu, 9 sq ft |
| Ground | 2.26875 | Exact; Tamil Nadu Urban Land Tax Act 1966, s.2(8-A): "an area comprising two hundred and twenty three square metres (two thousand and four hundred square feet)" |
| Guntha | 5 | Exact; 121 sq yd; 40 guntha = 1 acre exactly |
| Hectare | 0.05058570528 | Exact; 10,000 m² exactly |
| Katha | 4 (Bihar state standard) | Region-specific; also 7.5625 (West Bengal / Jharkhand) · 1.890625 (Assam) · 3.125 (Bihar (Chhapra)) |
| Killa | 0.125 | Exact; The acre under its Punjabi name |
| Lessa | 37.8125 | Exact; The 12-foot mauzadari jar squared (Assam Land Records Manual r.117); 20 to a katha, 100 to a bigha |
| Marla | 20 | Exact; the same in every karam belt, both units being the karam squared |
| Murabba | 0.005 (Punjab canal colony) | Region-specific; also 0.008 (Rajasthan (Indira Gandhi Canal)) |
| Nali | 2.520833 | Recurring; 240 sq yd; 16 mutthi of 135 sq ft. No instrument located states the figure |
| Perch | 20 | Exact; 30.25 sq yd; 160 perches = 1 acre |
| Pura | 0.09453125 | Exact; 4 Assam bigha of 14,400 sq ft. The 4:1 ratio is SOURCED -- the Supreme Court states it in 1961 and 1971 and the Gauhati High Court in 1986, 2023, 2024 and 2026 -- but no instrument, judgment or manual states the square-foot figure, which is derived from the Assam bigha |
| Square Centimeter | 5,058,570.528 | Exact; One ten-thousandth of a square metre |
| Square Feet | 5,445 | Exact; The base of this series |
| Square Inch | 784,080 | Exact; One 144th of a square foot |
| Square Karam | 180 | Exact; the same in every karam belt, both units being the karam squared |
| Square Kilometer | 0.0005058570528 | Exact; 1,000,000 m² |
| Square Meter | 505.8570528 | Exact; The SI unit of area |
| Square Mile | 0.0001953125 | Exact; Standards of Weights and Measures Act 1976, Schedule (see s.79): "1 square mile = 2 589 988.110 336 square metres"; 640 acres exactly |
| Square Yard | 605 | Exact; 9 sq ft exactly |
1 kanal = 0.125 acres, exact. An acre is exact by definition: 43,560 sq ft = 4,840 sq yd.
Computed on the Standard (66-inch karam) kanal of 5,445 square feet, one of 4 definitions this series carries for this unit.
Eight kanal to the acre on the standard 66-inch karam, the belt that covers most of Punjab and Haryana, and is the value reported for Jammu & Kashmir. Himachal appears on every list of kanal states and its own High Court's record is more than five to one bighas, so treat that entry with care. Where the local karam is shorter the kanal is smaller and the count per acre rises to 9.68, 10.54 or 11.95. A source that gives 8 without naming a belt is right most of the time and wrong without warning.
Where the acre fits into the kanal's own record is set out in Kanal to Acre, Killa, Marla and the Rest above; what follows is the arithmetic.
Acre = Kanal × 0.125
| Kanal | Acre |
|---|---|
| 1 | 0.125 |
| 2 | 0.25 |
| 3 | 0.375 |
| 5 | 0.625 |
| 10 | 1.25 |
| 20 | 2.5 |
| 50 | 6.25 |
| 100 | 12.5 |
| 200 | 25 |
| 500 | 62.5 |
| 1,000 | 125 |
5 kanal × 0.125 = 0.625 acres
Kanal = Acre × 8
1 kanal = 0.25 bigha on the Punjab / west Haryana definition. The bigha has no single national value. It is also 0.2 (UP pucca / Bihar / Rajasthan pucca) · 0.6 (UP kachha (6⅔ biswa)) · 0.8 (UP kachha (5 biswa) / Uttarakhand hills) and 5 more per kanal. Every definition this series has located is set out with the evidence behind it.
Computed on the Standard (66-inch karam) kanal of 5,445 square feet, one of 4 definitions this series carries for this unit.
Bigha = Kanal × 0.25 (Punjab / west Haryana)
| Kanal | Bigha (Punjab / west Haryana) |
|---|---|
| 1 | 0.25 |
| 2 | 0.5 |
| 3 | 0.75 |
| 5 | 1.25 |
| 10 | 2.5 |
| 20 | 5 |
| 50 | 12.5 |
| 100 | 25 |
| 200 | 50 |
| 500 | 125 |
| 1,000 | 250 |
| Bigha definition | Where it applies | 1 bigha in sq ft | Bigha per kanal | Terminates? | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UP pucca / Bihar / Rajasthan pucca | Purvanchal, Awadh, Patna belt, east Rajasthan | 27,225 | 0.2 | Exact | sourced |
| UP kachha (6⅔ biswa) | West Uttar Pradesh | 9,075 | 0.6 | Exact | sourced |
| UP kachha (5 biswa) / Uttarakhand hills | West UP, Kumaon and Garhwal hills | 6,806.25 | 0.8 | Exact | sourced |
| Rajasthan kachha / Gujarat vigha / Uttarakhand Terai | Marwar, Gujarat, Terai | 17,424 | 0.3125 | Exact | sourced |
| Madhya Pradesh | Madhya Pradesh | 12,000 | 0.45375 | Exact | reported, not sourced |
| West Bengal / Assam / Jharkhand | West Bengal, Assam, Ranchi | 14,400 | 0.378125 | Exact | sourced |
| Himachal Pradesh / Haryana Rohtak belt | Himachal Pradesh, Rohtak, Hisar | 8,712 | 0.625 | Exact | sourced |
| Punjab / west Haryana (the definition used here) | Punjab, kanal belt of Haryana | 21,780 | 0.25 | Exact | sourced |
| Haryana Ambala belt | Ambala, Gurugram, Faridabad, Karnal, Panipat | 8,100 | 0.672222 | Recurring | sourced |
Not every definition above rests on an instrument. 1 of the 9 are marked reported or no instrument located: in circulation and internally consistent, but this series could not find a rule, manual or judgment stating them. What was searched for each is recorded with that unit. Terminates? answers only whether the ratio has a finite decimal, not whether the figure behind it is verified.
To convert against one of the other definitions, multiply by its factor.
5 kanal × 0.25 = 1.25 bigha
Kanal = Bigha × 4 (Punjab / west Haryana)
Kanal = Bigha × 5 (UP pucca / Bihar / Rajasthan pucca)
Kanal = Bigha ÷ 0.6 (UP kachha (6⅔ biswa))
Kanal = Bigha × 1.25 (UP kachha (5 biswa) / Uttarakhand hills)
Kanal = Bigha × 3.2 (Rajasthan kachha / Gujarat vigha / Uttarakhand Terai)
Kanal = Bigha ÷ 0.45375 (Madhya Pradesh)
Kanal = Bigha ÷ 0.378125 (West Bengal / Assam / Jharkhand)
Kanal = Bigha × 1.6 (Himachal Pradesh / Haryana Rohtak belt)
Kanal = Bigha × 180/121 (Haryana Ambala belt)
1 kanal = 12 biswa on the Punjab / Haryana old records definition. The biswa has no single national value. It is also 4 (UP / Rajasthan pucca) · 6.25 (Rajasthan kachha) · 12.5 (Himachal Pradesh) per kanal. Every definition this series has located is set out with the evidence behind it.
Computed on the Standard (66-inch karam) kanal of 5,445 square feet, one of 4 definitions this series carries for this unit.
Biswa = Kanal × 12 (Punjab / Haryana old records)
| Kanal | Biswa (Punjab / Haryana old records) |
|---|---|
| 1 | 12 |
| 2 | 24 |
| 3 | 36 |
| 5 | 60 |
| 10 | 120 |
| 20 | 240 |
| 50 | 600 |
| 100 | 1,200 |
| 200 | 2,400 |
| 500 | 6,000 |
| 1,000 | 12,000 |
| Biswa definition | Where it applies | 1 biswa in sq ft | Biswa per kanal | Terminates? | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UP / Rajasthan pucca | Uttar Pradesh, east Rajasthan | 1,361.25 | 4 | Exact | sourced |
| Rajasthan kachha | Marwar | 871.2 | 6.25 | Exact | no instrument located |
| Punjab / Haryana old records (the definition used here) | Punjab, Haryana | 453.75 | 12 | Exact | sourced |
| Himachal Pradesh | Himachal Pradesh | 435.6 | 12.5 | Exact | no instrument located |
Not every definition above rests on an instrument. 2 of the 4 are marked reported or no instrument located: in circulation and internally consistent, but this series could not find a rule, manual or judgment stating them. What was searched for each is recorded with that unit. Terminates? answers only whether the ratio has a finite decimal, not whether the figure behind it is verified.
| Kanal | Biswa (1,361.25 sq ft) |
|---|---|
| 1 | 4 |
| 2 | 8 |
| 3 | 12 |
| 5 | 20 |
| 10 | 40 |
| 20 | 80 |
| 50 | 200 |
| 100 | 400 |
| 200 | 800 |
| 500 | 2,000 |
| 1,000 | 4,000 |
| Kanal | Biswa (871.2 sq ft) |
|---|---|
| 1 | 6.25 |
| 2 | 12.5 |
| 3 | 18.75 |
| 5 | 31.25 |
| 10 | 62.5 |
| 20 | 125 |
| 50 | 312.5 |
| 100 | 625 |
| 200 | 1,250 |
| 500 | 3,125 |
| 1,000 | 6,250 |
| Kanal | Biswa (435.6 sq ft) |
|---|---|
| 1 | 12.5 |
| 2 | 25 |
| 3 | 37.5 |
| 5 | 62.5 |
| 10 | 125 |
| 20 | 250 |
| 50 | 625 |
| 100 | 1,250 |
| 200 | 2,500 |
| 500 | 6,250 |
| 1,000 | 12,500 |
5 kanal × 12 = 60 biswa
Kanal = Biswa ÷ 12 (Punjab / Haryana old records)
Kanal = Biswa × 0.25 (UP / Rajasthan pucca)
Kanal = Biswa × 0.16 (Rajasthan kachha)
Kanal = Biswa × 0.08 (Himachal Pradesh)
1 kanal = 12 biswa kacha on the Punjab / Haryana revenue definition. The biswa kacha has no single national value. It is also 6.25 (Rajasthan kachha reading) per kanal. Every definition this series has located is set out with the evidence behind it.
Computed on the Standard (66-inch karam) kanal of 5,445 square feet, one of 4 definitions this series carries for this unit.
Biswa Kacha = Kanal × 12 (Punjab / Haryana revenue definition)
453.75 square feet either way, so the Kanal to Biswa figures apply unchanged. What differs between the two is the record each word belongs to, not the size.
| Biswa Kacha definition | Where it applies | 1 biswa kacha in sq ft | Biswa Kacha per kanal | Terminates? | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Punjab / Haryana revenue definition (the definition used here) | Punjab, Haryana | 453.75 | 12 | Exact | sourced |
| Rajasthan kachha reading | Marwar | 871.2 | 6.25 | Exact | no instrument located |
Not every definition above rests on an instrument. 1 of the 2 are marked reported or no instrument located: in circulation and internally consistent, but this series could not find a rule, manual or judgment stating them. What was searched for each is recorded with that unit. Terminates? answers only whether the ratio has a finite decimal, not whether the figure behind it is verified.
871.2 square feet either way, so the Kanal to Biswa, Rajasthan kachha figures apply unchanged. What differs between the two is the record each word belongs to, not the size.
5 kanal × 12 = 60 biswa kacha
Kanal = Biswa Kacha ÷ 12 (Punjab / Haryana revenue definition)
Kanal = Biswa Kacha × 0.16 (Rajasthan kachha reading)
1 kanal = 0.05058570528 hectares, exact. A hectare is 10,000 m² exactly.
Computed on the Standard (66-inch karam) kanal of 5,445 square feet, one of 4 definitions this series carries for this unit.
19.768430517… kanal to the hectare on the standard karam, recurring, and belt-dependent on top of that. This is the conversion a Punjab acquisition award needs and the one most likely to be quoted to more precision than it deserves.
The ratio is the fraction 158,080,329/3,125,000,000, or 0.05058570528 exactly.
Hectare = Kanal × 0.05058570528
| Kanal | Hectare |
|---|---|
| 1 | 0.05058570528 |
| 2 | 0.10117141056 |
| 3 | 0.15175711584 |
| 5 | 0.2529285264 |
| 10 | 0.5058570528 |
| 20 | 1.0117141056 |
| 50 | 2.529285264 |
| 100 | 5.058570528 |
| 200 | 10.117141056 |
| 500 | 25.29285264 |
| 1,000 | 50.58570528 |
5 kanal × 0.05058570528 = 0.2529285264 hectares
Kanal = Hectare ÷ 0.05058570528
1 kanal = 20 marla, and the same in every karam belt. Both units are the karam squared: where the local karam is shorter, a kanal and a marla shrink together and the count of one in the other does not move. What the belt changes is their size in square feet.
Computed on the Standard (66-inch karam) kanal of 5,445 square feet, one of 4 definitions this series carries for this unit.
Twenty marla make one kanal, and because the ratio holds in every belt, a kanal-marla figure needs no belt to be read. "2 kanal 14 marla" is 54 marla in Amritsar exactly as it is in Ludhiana. The belt is needed at one step only: the conversion out into square feet, square yards or metric. Do the arithmetic inside the chain first and settle the belt last, and the belt question arises once instead of at every line.
Where the marla fits into the kanal's own record is set out in Kanal to Acre, Killa, Marla and the Rest above; what follows is the arithmetic.
Marla = Kanal × 20
| Kanal | Marla (Standard (66-inch karam)) |
|---|---|
| 1 | 20 |
| 2 | 40 |
| 3 | 60 |
| 5 | 100 |
| 10 | 200 |
| 20 | 400 |
| 50 | 1,000 |
| 100 | 2,000 |
| 200 | 4,000 |
| 500 | 10,000 |
| 1,000 | 20,000 |
| Marla definition | Where it applies | 1 marla in sq ft | Marla per kanal | Terminates? | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Standard (66-inch karam) (the definition used here) | Most of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal, J&K | 272.25 | 20 | Exact | sourced |
| Majha belt (60-inch karam) | Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Tarn Taran | 225 | 20 | Exact | reported, not sourced |
| Doaba belt (57.5-inch karam) | Jalandhar, Kapurthala and Hoshiarpur, and Kangra in Himachal | 206.640625 | 20 | Exact | reported, not sourced |
| Kapurthala belt (54-inch karam) | Parts of Kapurthala | 182.25 | 20 | Exact | reported, not sourced |
| HSVP urban estate | Haryana urban estates | 225 | n/a | n/a | sourced |
The ratio does not move. The kanal and the marla are both the karam squared, so a shorter karam shrinks them together and leaves the count between them unchanged: 20 in every belt. What the belt changes is the size of both, not the number of one in the other. A definition with no karam belt of its own has no entry.
Not every definition above rests on an instrument. 3 of the 5 are marked reported or no instrument located: in circulation and internally consistent, but this series could not find a rule, manual or judgment stating them. What was searched for each is recorded with that unit. Terminates? answers only whether the ratio has a finite decimal, not whether the figure behind it is verified.
The same ladder holds in every belt. To convert a belt kanal into square feet, take the belt's own figure and the grading recorded with that unit.
5 kanal × 20 = 100 marla
Kanal = Marla × 0.05 (Standard (66-inch karam))
Kanal = Marla × 0.05 (Majha belt (60-inch karam))
Kanal = Marla × 0.05 (Doaba belt (57.5-inch karam))
Kanal = Marla × 0.05 (Kapurthala belt (54-inch karam))
Kanal = Marla × 0.05 (HSVP urban estate)
1 kanal = 0.005 murabba on the Punjab canal colony definition. The murabba has no single national value. It is also 0.008 (Rajasthan (Indira Gandhi Canal)) per kanal. Every definition this series has located is set out with the evidence behind it.
Computed on the Standard (66-inch karam) kanal of 5,445 square feet, one of 4 definitions this series carries for this unit.
Murabba = Kanal × 0.005 (Punjab canal colony)
| Kanal | Murabba (Punjab canal colony) |
|---|---|
| 1 | 0.005 |
| 2 | 0.01 |
| 3 | 0.015 |
| 5 | 0.025 |
| 10 | 0.05 |
| 20 | 0.1 |
| 50 | 0.25 |
| 100 | 0.5 |
| 200 | 1 |
| 500 | 2.5 |
| 1,000 | 5 |
| Murabba definition | Where it applies | 1 murabba in sq ft | Murabba per kanal | Terminates? | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Punjab canal colony (the definition used here) | Punjab, Haryana canal colonies | 1,089,000 | 0.005 | Exact | reported, not sourced |
| Rajasthan (Indira Gandhi Canal) | Sri Ganganagar, Hanumangarh, Bikaner, Jaisalmer | 680,625 | 0.008 | Exact | sourced |
Not every definition above rests on an instrument. 1 of the 2 are marked reported or no instrument located: in circulation and internally consistent, but this series could not find a rule, manual or judgment stating them. What was searched for each is recorded with that unit. Terminates? answers only whether the ratio has a finite decimal, not whether the figure behind it is verified.
| Kanal | Murabba (680,625 sq ft) |
|---|---|
| 1 | 0.008 |
| 2 | 0.016 |
| 3 | 0.024 |
| 5 | 0.04 |
| 10 | 0.08 |
| 20 | 0.16 |
| 50 | 0.4 |
| 100 | 0.8 |
| 200 | 1.6 |
| 500 | 4 |
| 1,000 | 8 |
5 kanal × 0.005 = 0.025 murabba
Kanal = Murabba × 200 (Punjab canal colony)
Kanal = Murabba × 125 (Rajasthan (Indira Gandhi Canal))
1 kanal = 5,445 square feet, exact. A square foot is the base of this series.
Computed on the Standard (66-inch karam) kanal of 5,445 square feet, one of 4 definitions this series carries for this unit.
5,445 square feet to the standard kanal, twenty marla, one eighth of an acre. Like the marla it moves with the karam belt: 4,500 in Majha, 4,132.8125 in Doaba, 3,645 in parts of Kapurthala.
Where the square foot fits into the kanal's own record is set out in Kanal to Square Feet, Square Yards and Square Metres above; what follows is the arithmetic.
Square Feet = Kanal × 5,445
| Kanal | Square Feet |
|---|---|
| 1 | 5,445 |
| 2 | 10,890 |
| 3 | 16,335 |
| 5 | 27,225 |
| 10 | 54,450 |
| 20 | 108,900 |
| 50 | 272,250 |
| 100 | 544,500 |
| 200 | 1,089,000 |
| 500 | 2,722,500 |
| 1,000 | 5,445,000 |
5 kanal × 5,445 = 27,225 square feet
Kanal = Square Feet ÷ 5,445
1 kanal = 180 square karam, and the same in every karam belt. Both units are the karam squared: where the local karam is shorter, a kanal and a square karam shrink together and the count of one in the other does not move. What the belt changes is their size in square feet.
Computed on the Standard (66-inch karam) kanal of 5,445 square feet, one of 4 definitions this series carries for this unit.
180 sarsahi to the kanal, twenty marla of nine. The whole Punjab chain from sarsahi to killa is whole numbers, which is why a Punjab jamabandi rarely needs a fraction in the sarsahi column. Jammu & Kashmir is the exception this series found: its records also write the third place in square feet, and a square-foot remainder is fractional in sarsahi. 197 square feet is 6.51 of them.
Square Karam = Kanal × 180
| Kanal | Square Karam (Standard (66-inch karam)) |
|---|---|
| 1 | 180 |
| 2 | 360 |
| 3 | 540 |
| 5 | 900 |
| 10 | 1,800 |
| 20 | 3,600 |
| 50 | 9,000 |
| 100 | 18,000 |
| 200 | 36,000 |
| 500 | 90,000 |
| 1,000 | 180,000 |
| Square Karam definition | Where it applies | 1 square karam in sq ft | Square Karam per kanal | Terminates? | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Standard (66-inch karam) (the definition used here) | Most of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal, J&K | 30.25 | 180 | Exact | sourced |
| Majha belt (60-inch karam) | Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Tarn Taran | 25 | 180 | Exact | reported, not sourced |
| Doaba belt (57.5-inch karam) | Jalandhar, Kapurthala and Hoshiarpur, and Kangra in Himachal | 22.960069 | 180 | Exact | reported, not sourced |
| Kapurthala belt (54-inch karam) | Parts of Kapurthala | 20.25 | 180 | Exact | reported, not sourced |
The ratio does not move. The kanal and the square karam are both the karam squared, so a shorter karam shrinks them together and leaves the count between them unchanged: 180 in every belt. What the belt changes is the size of both, not the number of one in the other. A definition with no karam belt of its own has no entry.
Not every definition above rests on an instrument. 3 of the 4 are marked reported or no instrument located: in circulation and internally consistent, but this series could not find a rule, manual or judgment stating them. What was searched for each is recorded with that unit. Terminates? answers only whether the ratio has a finite decimal, not whether the figure behind it is verified.
The same ladder holds in every belt. To convert a belt kanal into square feet, take the belt's own figure and the grading recorded with that unit.
5 kanal × 180 = 900 square karam
Kanal = Square Karam ÷ 180 (Standard (66-inch karam))
Kanal = Square Karam ÷ 180 (Majha belt (60-inch karam))
Kanal = Square Karam ÷ 180 (Doaba belt (57.5-inch karam))
Kanal = Square Karam ÷ 180 (Kapurthala belt (54-inch karam))
1 kanal = 505.8570528 square metres, exact. A square metre is the SI unit of area.
Computed on the Standard (66-inch karam) kanal of 5,445 square feet, one of 4 definitions this series carries for this unit.
The ratio is the fraction 158,080,329/312,500, or 505.8570528 exactly.
Square Meter = Kanal × 505.8570528
| Kanal | Square Meter |
|---|---|
| 1 | 505.8570528 |
| 2 | 1,011.7141056 |
| 3 | 1,517.5711584 |
| 5 | 2,529.285264 |
| 10 | 5,058.570528 |
| 20 | 10,117.141056 |
| 50 | 25,292.85264 |
| 100 | 50,585.70528 |
| 200 | 101,171.41056 |
| 500 | 252,928.5264 |
| 1,000 | 505,857.0528 |
5 kanal × 505.8570528 = 2,529.285264 square metres
Kanal = Square Meter ÷ 505.8570528
Exactness of the method is not exactness of the result: where a ratio does not terminate, the table says so and the formula gives the fraction.
1 kanal = 75.625 ankanam on the Standard definition; 151.25 on the Tirupati definition. Ankanam = Kanal × 75.625 (Standard) · reverse Kanal = Ankanam ÷ 75.625
| Kanal | Ankanam (Standard) |
|---|---|
| 1 | 75.625 |
| 2 | 151.25 |
| 3 | 226.875 |
| 5 | 378.125 |
| 10 | 756.25 |
| 20 | 1,512.5 |
| 50 | 3,781.25 |
| 100 | 7,562.5 |
| 200 | 15,125 |
| 500 | 37,812.5 |
| 1,000 | 75,625 |
Every definition as a factor. Multiply kanal by the figure shown.
| Ankanam definition | Where | Ankanam per kanal |
|---|---|---|
| Standard (the definition used here) | Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, parts of Karnataka | 75.625 |
| Tirupati | Tirupati and parts of Chittoor | 151.25 |
1 kanal = 80 dhur on the Bihar / Jharkhand (Patna chain) definition; 1,512.5 on the Tripura definition. Dhur = Kanal × 80 (Bihar / Jharkhand (Patna chain)) · reverse Kanal = Dhur × 0.0125
| Kanal | Dhur (Bihar / Jharkhand (Patna chain)) |
|---|---|
| 1 | 80 |
| 2 | 160 |
| 3 | 240 |
| 5 | 400 |
| 10 | 800 |
| 20 | 1,600 |
| 50 | 4,000 |
| 100 | 8,000 |
| 200 | 16,000 |
| 500 | 40,000 |
| 1,000 | 80,000 |
Every definition as a factor. Multiply kanal by the figure shown.
| Dhur definition | Where | Dhur per kanal |
|---|---|---|
| Bihar / Jharkhand (Patna chain) (the definition used here); reported, not sourced | Patna belt, and Jharkhand districts counting in the Patna katha | 80 |
| Tripura | Tripura | 1,512.5 |
1 kanal = 4 katha on the Bihar state standard definition; 7.5625 on the West Bengal / Jharkhand definition · 1.890625 on the Assam definition · 3.125 on the Bihar (Chhapra) definition · 2.863905 on the Bihar (Hajipur) definition · 1.666667 on the Bihar (Bettiah) definition. Katha = Kanal × 4 (Bihar state standard) · reverse Kanal = Katha × 0.25
1,361.25 square feet either way, so the Kanal to Biswa, UP / Rajasthan pucca figures apply unchanged. What differs between the two is the record each word belongs to, not the size.
Every definition as a factor. Multiply kanal by the figure shown.
| Katha definition | Where | Katha per kanal |
|---|---|---|
| Bihar state standard (the definition used here) | Patna, Arrah | 4 |
| West Bengal / Jharkhand | Rural West Bengal, Ranchi | 7.5625 |
| Assam | Assam (except Barak Valley) | 1.890625 |
| Bihar (Chhapra) | Saran | 3.125 |
| Bihar (Hajipur) | Vaishali | 2.863905 |
| Bihar (Bettiah) | West Champaran | 1.666667 |
1 kanal = 5.058570528 ares (exact). Ares = Kanal × 5.058570528 · reverse Kanal = Ares ÷ 5.058570528
| Kanal | Ares |
|---|---|
| 1 | 5.058570528 |
| 2 | 10.117141056 |
| 3 | 15.175711584 |
| 5 | 25.29285264 |
| 10 | 50.58570528 |
| 20 | 101.17141056 |
| 50 | 252.9285264 |
| 100 | 505.8570528 |
| 200 | 1,011.7141056 |
| 500 | 2,529.285264 |
| 1,000 | 5,058.570528 |
1 kanal = 12.5 cent (exact). Cent = Kanal × 12.5 · reverse Kanal = Cent × 0.08
435.6 square feet either way, so the Kanal to Biswa, Himachal Pradesh figures apply unchanged. What differs between the two is the record each word belongs to, not the size.
1 kanal = 121 chatak (exact). Chatak = Kanal × 121 · reverse Kanal = Chatak ÷ 121
| Kanal | Chatak |
|---|---|
| 1 | 121 |
| 2 | 242 |
| 3 | 363 |
| 5 | 605 |
| 10 | 1,210 |
| 20 | 2,420 |
| 50 | 6,050 |
| 100 | 12,100 |
| 200 | 24,200 |
| 500 | 60,500 |
| 1,000 | 121,000 |
1 kanal = 605 gaj (exact). Gaj = Kanal × 605 · reverse Kanal = Gaj ÷ 605
| Kanal | Gaj |
|---|---|
| 1 | 605 |
| 2 | 1,210 |
| 3 | 1,815 |
| 5 | 3,025 |
| 10 | 6,050 |
| 20 | 12,100 |
| 50 | 30,250 |
| 100 | 60,500 |
| 200 | 121,000 |
| 500 | 302,500 |
| 1,000 | 605,000 |
1 kanal = 2.26875 ground (exact). Ground = Kanal × 2.26875 · reverse Kanal = Ground ÷ 2.26875
| Kanal | Ground |
|---|---|
| 1 | 2.26875 |
| 2 | 4.5375 |
| 3 | 6.80625 |
| 5 | 11.34375 |
| 10 | 22.6875 |
| 20 | 45.375 |
| 50 | 113.4375 |
| 100 | 226.875 |
| 200 | 453.75 |
| 500 | 1,134.375 |
| 1,000 | 2,268.75 |
1 kanal = 5 guntha (exact). Guntha = Kanal × 5 · reverse Kanal = Guntha × 0.2
| Kanal | Guntha |
|---|---|
| 1 | 5 |
| 2 | 10 |
| 3 | 15 |
| 5 | 25 |
| 10 | 50 |
| 20 | 100 |
| 50 | 250 |
| 100 | 500 |
| 200 | 1,000 |
| 500 | 2,500 |
| 1,000 | 5,000 |
1 kanal = 37.8125 lessa (exact). Lessa = Kanal × 37.8125 · reverse Kanal = Lessa ÷ 37.8125
| Kanal | Lessa |
|---|---|
| 1 | 37.8125 |
| 2 | 75.625 |
| 3 | 113.4375 |
| 5 | 189.0625 |
| 10 | 378.125 |
| 20 | 756.25 |
| 50 | 1,890.625 |
| 100 | 3,781.25 |
| 200 | 7,562.5 |
| 500 | 18,906.25 |
| 1,000 | 37,812.5 |
1 kanal = 2.520833 nali (recurring). Nali = Kanal × 121/48 · reverse Kanal = Nali × 48/121
| Kanal | Nali |
|---|---|
| 1 | 2.520833 |
| 2 | 5.041667 |
| 3 | 7.5625 |
| 5 | 12.604167 |
| 10 | 25.208333 |
| 20 | 50.416667 |
| 50 | 126.041667 |
| 100 | 252.083333 |
| 200 | 504.166667 |
| 500 | 1,260.416667 |
| 1,000 | 2,520.833333 |
1 kanal = 0.09453125 pura (exact). Pura = Kanal × 0.09453125 · reverse Kanal = Pura ÷ 0.09453125
| Kanal | Pura |
|---|---|
| 1 | 0.09453125 |
| 2 | 0.1890625 |
| 3 | 0.28359375 |
| 5 | 0.47265625 |
| 10 | 0.9453125 |
| 20 | 1.890625 |
| 50 | 4.7265625 |
| 100 | 9.453125 |
| 200 | 18.90625 |
| 500 | 47.265625 |
| 1,000 | 94.53125 |
1 kanal = 5,058,570.528 square centimeter (exact). Square Centimeter = Kanal × 5,058,570.528 · reverse Kanal = Square Centimeter ÷ 5,058,570.528
| Kanal | Square Centimeter |
|---|---|
| 1 | 5,058,570.528 |
| 2 | 10,117,141.056 |
| 3 | 15,175,711.584 |
| 5 | 25,292,852.64 |
| 10 | 50,585,705.28 |
| 20 | 101,171,410.56 |
| 50 | 252,928,526.4 |
| 100 | 505,857,052.8 |
| 200 | 1,011,714,105.6 |
| 500 | 2,529,285,264 |
| 1,000 | 5,058,570,528 |
1 kanal = 784,080 square inch (exact). Square Inch = Kanal × 784,080 · reverse Kanal = Square Inch ÷ 784,080
| Kanal | Square Inch |
|---|---|
| 1 | 784,080 |
| 2 | 1,568,160 |
| 3 | 2,352,240 |
| 5 | 3,920,400 |
| 10 | 7,840,800 |
| 20 | 15,681,600 |
| 50 | 39,204,000 |
| 100 | 78,408,000 |
| 200 | 156,816,000 |
| 500 | 392,040,000 |
| 1,000 | 784,080,000 |
1 kanal = 0.0005058570528 square kilometer (exact). Square Kilometer = Kanal × 0.0005058570528 · reverse Kanal = Square Kilometer ÷ 0.0005058570528
| Kanal | Square Kilometer |
|---|---|
| 1 | 0.0005058570528 |
| 2 | 0.0010117141056 |
| 3 | 0.0015175711584 |
| 5 | 0.002529285264 |
| 10 | 0.005058570528 |
| 20 | 0.010117141056 |
| 50 | 0.02529285264 |
| 100 | 0.05058570528 |
| 200 | 0.10117141056 |
| 500 | 0.2529285264 |
| 1,000 | 0.5058570528 |
1 kanal = 0.0001953125 square mile (exact). Square Mile = Kanal × 0.0001953125 · reverse Kanal = Square Mile × 5,120
| Kanal | Square Mile |
|---|---|
| 1 | 0.0001953125 |
| 2 | 0.000390625 |
| 3 | 0.0005859375 |
| 5 | 0.0009765625 |
| 10 | 0.001953125 |
| 20 | 0.00390625 |
| 50 | 0.009765625 |
| 100 | 0.01953125 |
| 200 | 0.0390625 |
| 500 | 0.09765625 |
| 1,000 | 0.1953125 |
Six of the thirty-two units are two names for one area with another, so their figures are identical to the last digit.
1 kanal = 12.5 decimal. A decimal and a cent are the same area, 435.6 square feet, so any Kanal figure converts to the same number of either. Decimal = Kanal × 12.5 · reverse Kanal = Decimal × 0.08
1 kanal = 12.5 dismil. A dismil and a cent are the same area, 435.6 square feet, so any Kanal figure converts to the same number of either. Dismil = Kanal × 12.5 · reverse Kanal = Dismil × 0.08
1 kanal = 605 gajam. A gajam and a gaj are the same area, 9 square feet, so any Kanal figure converts to the same number of either. Gajam = Kanal × 605 · reverse Kanal = Gajam ÷ 605
1 kanal = 0.125 killa. A killa and an acre are the same area, 43,560 square feet, so any Kanal figure converts to the same number of either. Killa = Kanal × 0.125 · reverse Kanal = Killa × 8
1 kanal = 20 perches. A perch and a marla are the same area, 272.25 square feet, so any Kanal figure converts to the same number of either. Perch = Kanal × 20 · reverse Kanal = Perch × 0.05
1 kanal = 605 square yards. A square yard and a gaj are the same area, 9 square feet, so any Kanal figure converts to the same number of either. Square Yard = Kanal × 605 · reverse Kanal = Square Yard ÷ 605
The tables above are arithmetic, and for a kanal the arithmetic is the easy half. What decides whether the figure you started with is the right one to convert at all is The Belt Changes the Kanal.
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