Written and fact-checked by Aadil Saif. Arithmetic independently re-verified · Last updated September 2026
Part of the India Land Unit Converter series.
This series has carried an open question for ten units: nobody could produce an instrument stating how long a karam is. Every page that needed the number has repeated it as reported and refused to call it sourced. This page went looking properly, and the answer turns out to be better than a number, the settlement manual that governs Punjab measurement does not give a length because the karam is a pace, and the manual says in terms that a pace varies from place to place. It also names the document where the district-by-district figures live, which is not the document this series had been looking in. That is set out below, with the manual quoted, and the series' non-assertion stays in force until somebody reads the circular it points to.
1 square karam = 1 sarsahi = 30.25 square feet = 3.3611… square yards = 2.81031696 square metres, at the 66-inch karam.
9 sarsahi = 1 marla. 180 sarsahi = 1 kanal. 1,440 sarsahi = 1 acre.
| One square karam, in | Amount | Which is |
|---|---|---|
| Square feet | 30.25 | the square of a 66-inch karam |
| Square yards | 3.3611 | recurring; it is a ninth of 30.25 |
| Square metres | 2.81031696 | exact |
| Marla | 0.111111 | one ninth, exactly |
| Kanal | 0.005556 | one hundred and eightieth |
| Acre | 0.00069444 | one one-thousand-four-hundred-and-fortieth |
| Square Karam | Square Feet | Square Yard | Marla (Standard) | Kanal (Standard) | Killa |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 30.25 | 3.361111 | 0.111111 | 0.005556 | 0.000694 |
| 2 | 60.5 | 6.722222 | 0.222222 | 0.011111 | 0.001389 |
| 3 | 90.75 | 10.083333 | 0.333333 | 0.016667 | 0.002083 |
| 5 | 151.25 | 16.805556 | 0.555556 | 0.027778 | 0.003472 |
| 10 | 302.5 | 33.611111 | 1.111111 | 0.055556 | 0.006944 |
| 20 | 605 | 67.222222 | 2.222222 | 0.111111 | 0.013889 |
| 50 | 1,512.5 | 168.055556 | 5.555556 | 0.277778 | 0.034722 |
| 100 | 3,025 | 336.111111 | 11.111111 | 0.555556 | 0.069444 |
| 200 | 6,050 | 672.222222 | 22.222222 | 1.111111 | 0.138889 |
| 500 | 15,125 | 1,680.555556 | 55.555556 | 2.777778 | 0.347222 |
| 1,000 | 30,250 | 3,361.111111 | 111.111111 | 5.555556 | 0.694444 |
Three words for two things, and separating them first saves trouble later. A karam is a length, a pace, and the Punjab Land Records Manual sets out how to walk one. A square karam is its square, which is an area. And sarsahi is the name that area goes by in a revenue record. So karam and sarsahi are not synonyms: one is a rod and the other is a square of it, exactly as a yard is not a square yard. The same distinction is set out for the gaj, where it causes considerably more trouble.
This is the smallest unit a Punjab or Haryana jamabandi records. There is nothing below it: a fraction of a sarsahi is written as a fraction, which is why judgments print areas like "2 Kanal 14 Marla 4 ½ Sarsahi".
Two things follow that no converter states. The unit is a pace, not a length, the settlement manual describes how to walk it, and the two names for it belong to two different ladders that do not contain the same number of it.
Numbers The answer, first · Sarsahi to square feet and metres · What the belt changes · Down to the square inch
Understand The unit is a pace · One atom, two ladders · Why the column exists · What the courts wrote · Three mistakes
Act Checking a converted sarsahi figure
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 · Kanal · Katha · Killa · Lessa · Marla · Murabba · Nali · Perch · Pura · Square Centimeter · Square Feet · Square Inch · 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 square karam's own size, 30.25 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 square karam, 30.25 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Square Karam to Acre | Square Karam ÷ 1,440 | Recurring |
| Square Karam to Ankanam | Square Karam × 121/288 | Recurring · Ankanam is regional. This row is the Standard; also 0.840278 |
| Square Karam to Ares | Square Karam × 0.0281031696 | Exact |
| Square Karam to Bigha | Square Karam ÷ 720 | Recurring · Bigha is regional. This row is the Punjab / west Haryana; also 0.001111, 0.003333, 0.004444 and 5 more |
| Square Karam to Biswa | Square Karam ÷ 15 | Recurring · Biswa is regional. This row is the Punjab / Haryana old records; also 0.022222, 0.034722, 0.069444 |
| Square Karam to Biswa Kacha | Square Karam ÷ 15 | Recurring · Biswa Kacha is regional. This row is the Punjab / Haryana revenue; also 0.034722 |
| Square Karam to Cent | Square Karam ÷ 14.4 | Recurring |
| Square Karam to Chatak | Square Karam × 121/180 | Recurring |
| Square Karam to Decimal | Square Karam ÷ 14.4 | Recurring |
| Square Karam to Dhur | Square Karam ÷ 2.25 | Recurring · Dhur is regional. This row is the Bihar / Jharkhand (Patna chain); also 8.402778 |
| Square Karam to Dismil | Square Karam ÷ 14.4 | Recurring |
| Square Karam to Gaj | Square Karam × 121/36 | Recurring |
| Square Karam to Gajam | Square Karam × 121/36 | Recurring |
| Square Karam to Ground | Square Karam × 121/9,600 | Recurring |
| Square Karam to Guntha | Square Karam ÷ 36 | Recurring |
| Square Karam to Hectare | Square Karam × 0.000281031696 | Exact |
| Square Karam to Kanal | Square Karam ÷ 180 | Recurring · Fixed in every belt. Square Karam and Kanal are both the karam squared, so a shorter karam changes the size of both and not the count of one in the other |
| Square Karam to Katha | Square Karam ÷ 45 | Recurring · Katha is regional. This row is the Bihar state standard; also 0.042014, 0.010503, 0.017361 and 2 more |
| Square Karam to Killa | Square Karam ÷ 1,440 | Recurring |
| Square Karam to Lessa | Square Karam × 121/576 | Recurring |
| Square Karam to Marla | Square Karam ÷ 9 | Recurring · Fixed in every belt. Square Karam 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 |
| Square Karam to Murabba | Square Karam ÷ 36,000 | Recurring · Murabba is regional. This row is the Punjab canal colony; also 0.0000444 |
| Square Karam to Nali | Square Karam × 121/8,640 | Recurring |
| Square Karam to Perch | Square Karam ÷ 9 | Recurring |
| Square Karam to Pura | Square Karam × 121/230,400 | Recurring |
| Square Karam to Square Centimeter | Square Karam × 28,103.1696 | Exact |
| Square Karam to Square Feet | Square Karam × 30.25 | Exact |
| Square Karam to Square Inch | Square Karam × 4,356 | Exact |
| Square Karam to Square Kilometer | Square Karam × 0.00000281031696 | Exact |
| Square Karam to Square Meter | Square Karam × 2.81031696 | Exact |
| Square Karam to Square Mile | Square Karam ÷ 921,600 | Recurring |
| Square Karam to Square Yard | Square Karam × 121/36 | Recurring |
The governing description is in J. M. Douie's Punjab Settlement Manual, at paragraph 243. It is worth reading because it does not define a length. It defines an action.
"The simplest way of measuring land is by [paces]… [as] a man in walking [steps] out first with his left foot, the [pace] is the distance between the heel of the right foot in [its original] position, and the heel of the same foot after it has [been placed in] front of the left foot to make the second step."
That is the karam. The manual calls it a kadam, which is the same word, a step. And the unit of area is its square:
"…a square kadam the unit of measure of area."
Because a pace is not a length that anybody set. The manual says so directly, in the same paragraph, and the sentence is the answer this series has been looking for:
"…[the pa]ce of a man in different localities varies grea[tly]… the local measures in u[s]e were found to be far [from uniform]… variations have been reduced, but not abolished, in the [settlement] surveys."
Read that carefully. It is not saying the karam was standardised and the standard has been lost. It is saying the karam was never uniform, that the settlement surveys narrowed the variation without ending it, and that this was expected rather than a failure. The four belt lengths that every converter repeats (66, 60, 57½ and 54 inches) are the residue of that narrowing, not a national standard with regional exceptions.
That reframes the question. Asking "how long is a karam" is like asking how long a pace is: the answer is that it depends who is walking and where, and the administration's response was to fix local figures district by district rather than one figure for the province.
The four belt figures are reported, not sourced. They span twelve inches end to end, sixty-six down to fifty-four, and a fifth length, outside their range altogether, is computed from a judgment's own two quantities and set out below.
And the manual says where they were written down:
"…[full] details of the land measures officially recognized in [the several] districts will be found in Panjab Revenue Circular No. 28."
That is not the Punjab Land Records Manual, which is where this series had been looking, and which is why ten units have gone out with the karam marked unsourced. The circular is the document that would settle it. This page has not been able to reach it, so the series' non-assertion stands: no page may present the karam lengths as sourced until somebody reads Revenue Circular No. 28. What has changed is that the gap now has an address.
The Settlement Manual was read in a scanned transcription, and the optical recognition is damaged in places. Words are dropped and letters transposed. Everything in square brackets above is a reconstruction of a damaged passage, and everything outside them is legible in the scan as printed. The sentences relied on here are all legible: that the unit of area is a square kadam, that the pace varies by locality, that the variation was reduced but not abolished, and that the district details are in Revenue Circular No. 28. Where the scan is unclear this page has bracketed rather than guessed, and a reader who wants the unbracketed text should go to a printed copy.
The same paragraph gives the unit two names, and the reason is administrative rather than linguistic.
"In the [east] of the Panjab, where the bigha is [used], the square kadam is known as the biswansi; [where] the [kanal] is employed, it is known as the sarsahi."
And the next paragraph confirms it in passing, describing how a patwari computes a field's area by multiplying the paces along two perpendicular sides:
"…will give the number of square kadams (biswansis or sarsahis as the case may be) which the figure contains."
Biswansi and sarsahi are one unit under two names, and which name you meet depends on whether your district's revenue record counts upward in bighas or in kanals.
| Where the district counts in bighas | Where it counts in kanals | |
|---|---|---|
| The square karam is called | a biswansi | a sarsahi |
| Twenty of them make | 1 biswa | n/a |
| Nine of them make | n/a | 1 marla |
| Twenty of those make | 1 bigha | 1 kanal |
| Eight of those make | n/a | 1 ghumao |
| Square karams in the whole unit | 400 to the bigha | 180 to the kanal |
| At a 66-inch karam, that is | 12,100 sq ft | 5,445 sq ft |
Here is the part that is not obvious and that follows from the manual's own numbers. Twenty biswansi make a biswa and twenty biswa a bigha, so a bigha is four hundred square karams. Nine sarsahi make a marla and twenty marla a kanal, so a kanal is a hundred and eighty.
Four hundred against a hundred and eighty. The two systems share an atom and nothing else: a bigha is not a whole number of kanals but twenty-ninths of one, 2.2222…, and no arithmetic makes the ladders line up.
At the 66-inch karam that puts the manual's bigha at 12,100 square feet. This series has not located an attested Punjab bigha of that size. The Punjab customary bigha it does carry is four kanal (21,780 square feet, exactly half an acre), which is 80% larger. The manual's figure is 55.56% of it, and the two are easy to transpose. Where the customary figure comes from is set out with the bigha. The two cannot both be the bigha the manual means, and this page cannot say which. Three accounts would each explain it, and they are checkable in different places.
The first: the manual is describing the bigha of the districts that counted in bighas rather than the Punjab customary bigha, and those are different units sharing a name. The second: the bigha ladder and the kanal ladder sat on different karams, which the manual's own account of unabolished local variation makes entirely possible, if the bigha districts walked a shorter pace, four hundred of their square karams and four kanals of somebody else's could both be called a bigha. The third, and the one to rule out first: the passage is mis-scanned, and a printed copy reads differently.
Only the first two would be settled by Panjab Revenue Circular No. 28. The third needs nothing but a printed copy of the manual. The arithmetic is published and the conclusion is withheld, this series' rule when a test is clean and its explanation is not, but a reader should know that the third possibility is the cheapest to eliminate and has not been eliminated here.
One more caution, because the word travels. Biswansi also names the smallest unit of the Uttar Pradesh chain, where the Supreme Court has stated it at 7.5625 square yards, more than double the Punjab square karam of 3.3611. Same word, two states, two sizes; the UP figure and its authority belong to the biswa. A biswansi is only a square karam in Punjab.
A sarsahi is 30.25 square feet. It is fair to ask why a revenue record bothers with a unit that small, and the answer is in the litigation.
Hoshiar Singh v. Harbans Lal, the same 2014 judgment whose conversion is examined below, is an appeal to a High Court about eight sarsahi. That is 242 square feet, a square about fifteen and a half feet on a side, or a doorway's width running along the edge of a plot. A co-owner said his neighbour had encroached on it; the trial court, the first appellate court and then the High Court all took the question seriously enough to decide it.
Usha Kumari v. State of Punjab, Punjab and Haryana High Court, 1 August 2013, turns on the same scale from the other direction. The judgment records that "the measurement was not merely 8 ½ sarsahi, but on actual verification" something else, which is a dispute about whether the last column of a record was right.
That is what the column is for. In a system where holdings are fragmented across generations, the boundary between two shares is often a few feet of a field edge, and a record that stopped at the marla could not describe it. Nine sarsahi to the marla gives the patwari a unit of 30.25 square feet to work in, and a half, the fraction judgments actually print, gets him to 15.125.
It also explains why the column survived metrication, and the reason is not the one you would expect. Punjab and Haryana records now carry a hectare figure beside the kanal-marla one, and the metric figure is the legally prescribed unit, and that position is set out with the square yard. The metric figure is also finer: four decimals of a hectare is 10.7639 square feet, just over a third of a sarsahi.
So precision is not what keeps the old column alive. What keeps it alive is that the sarsahi is what was measured and the hectare figure is a conversion of it. One is a count of paces along the ground; the other is that count multiplied out. When two heirs disagree about a boundary, the argument is about the count, and the derived figure cannot settle it, which is why the third column is still where a Punjab dispute is decided even though a finer number sits next to it on the same page.
The practical consequence for a reader is the same one the marla reaches from above: do not round the third column into the second. A record that reads "14 marla 4½ sarsahi" was measured to about fifteen square feet, and "14.5 marla" is somebody's arithmetic rather than somebody's measurement.
Three documents equate sarsahi to square yards. Two of them agree with the chain and one does not.
| Document | Date | What it states | Should be | Error | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hoshiar Singh v. Harbans Lal | 3 Mar 2014 | "8 Sarsahi (16 square yards)" | 26.8889 sq yd | 40.5% low | unexplained; it needs a karam of 50.91 in |
| Gurpreet Singh v. State of Punjab | 18 May 2026 | "5 marlas 6 sarsahi (i.e., 171 square yards)" | 171.4167 sq yd | 0.24% low | a truncation |
| Kulvir Singh v. State of Punjab | 18 May 2026 | "marlas 6 sarsahi (i.e., 171 square yards)" | 171.4167 sq yd | 0.24% low | a truncation |
Gurpreet Singh v. State of Punjab and Kulvir Singh v. State of Punjab, decided the same day on the same figure, give five marlas and six sarsahi as 171 square yards. The chain gives 171.4167, five marlas at 30.25 and six sarsahi at 3.3611, so the judgments are 0.24% low, which is a truncation of four tenths of a square yard and nothing more. That is what a correct use of the unit looks like when somebody drops the fraction.
Hoshiar Singh v. Harbans Lal, Punjab and Haryana High Court, 3 March 2014, Rakesh Kumar Garg J., in a suit over an encroachment on a khasra number:
"possession of land measuring 8 Sarsahi (16 square yards) bearing khasra No.205"
Eight sarsahi is 26.8889 square yards. The judgment says sixteen. That is 40.5% low: not a rounding, not a truncation, and not the kind of error a fraction produces.
Work backwards and it implies a sarsahi of exactly two square yards, which needs a karam of 50.91 inches. That is not one of the four belts and it is not close to one: the smallest belt in circulation is Kapurthala's 54 inches, and 50.91 is three inches under it. No rod anyone has documented produces this figure.
This page cannot explain it. What it can do is say what the possibilities are and decline to choose between them. It may be a transcription error in a figure the court took from a pleading. It may be a local measure not in the four belts, which the manual's own account of unabolished variation makes possible rather than fanciful. It may be an arithmetic slip by whoever prepared the conversion. Nothing in the judgment turned on it (the appeal was about possession, not area), so nobody had reason to check.
What the finding is worth is narrow and real: a High Court has printed a sarsahi equivalence that the standard chain cannot produce, and a reader who meets a converted sarsahi figure should check it rather than trust it. The next section is how.
When a document gives you both a sarsahi count and a square-yard figure, "8 Sarsahi (16 square yards)", you have everything you need to test it, and the test is one division.
Step one. Divide the square yards by the sarsahi count. The answer should be 3.3611. On the 2014 judgment: 16 divided by 8 is 2, which is not 3.3611, so either the gloss is wrong or the belt is not the standard one.
Step two. If it is not 3.3611, find the karam it implies. Multiply the result by nine to get square feet per square karam, take the square root, multiply by twelve. On the same figures: 2 nines are 18 square feet, whose square root is 4.2426 feet, which is 50.91 inches. Compare that against the four reported belts, 66, 60, 57.5 and 54. It matches none of them and sits three inches below the smallest, so a regional rod does not explain the gloss either.
Step three, and this is the one that matters. Where the two disagree, the sarsahi count governs and the converted figure does not. The count is what the patwari measured on the ground; the square-yard figure is somebody's arithmetic afterwards, done once and then copied. A document reading "8 Sarsahi (16 square yards)" is a document about eight sarsahi, and eight sarsahi is 26.8889 square yards whichever way the bracket reads.
Where a marla figure sits in the same expression, take it at 30.25 square yards and subtract before dividing. That is how the 2026 judgments' "5 marlas 6 sarsahi (i.e., 171 square yards)" checks out: the true figure is 171.4167, so what looked like an error is a truncation of four tenths of a square yard.
When the check fails and the stake is real, the figures to put in front of a revenue officer are the sarsahi count and the district, not the converted number. The question you are actually asking is which karam that district's record was measured with, and only the district's own settlement record answers it.
Everything above uses the 66-inch karam. The other three belts give three other sarsahis.
| Belt | Karam | Square karam | Sarsahi in square yards | Sourced? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Malwa, and urban Punjab and Haryana | 66 in | 30.25 sq ft | 3.361111 | No |
| Majha | 60 in | 25 sq ft | 2.777778 | No |
| Doaba | 57.5 in | 22.960069 sq ft | 2.551119 | No |
| Kapurthala | 54 in | 20.25 sq ft | 2.25 | No |
The last column is the series' standing position and it has not changed: none of these lengths is sourced to an instrument this series has read. The Marla page carries the same table with the same verdict. Until somebody reads Revenue Circular No. 28, these are reported figures.
What does not depend on the belt is the ratio. Nine sarsahi make a marla in every belt, because the marla is defined as nine square karams whatever the karam is. So a jamabandi entry can be added up without knowing the belt, and only the conversion out of the system needs it, the same rule the Marla page states one rung up.
The manual's phrase is worth taking literally, because it describes the situation a reader is still in.
Before settlement, the karam was whatever the local pace was, and the manual says the measures found in use were far from uniform. Settlement did not replace those with one figure; it fixed a figure per district, and the four belts are what is left of that. So the right question about a Punjab document is not "how long is a karam" but "which district is this record from", and the answer lives in the district's own settlement record rather than in any general instrument.
The spread is not small. A Kapurthala sarsahi is 20.25 square feet and a Malwa one 30.25. The larger is 49.38% bigger than the smaller, which is a third off the top or a half on the bottom depending which way you read it. On a ten-marla plot that is a difference of 900 square feet, and the Marla page works that example through.
The practical rule follows from it. A sarsahi figure without a district is not a quantity. If you are converting one out of the record (into square feet for a builder, or into square metres for a deed) get the district's figure from the record itself or from a local revenue officer, and treat any four-belt table, including the one above, as a starting point rather than an authority.
| Sarsahi | Square feet | Square yards | Square metres | Marla | Kanal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 30.25 | 3.3611 | 2.810317 | 0.1111 | 0.005556 |
| 2 | 60.5 | 6.7222 | 5.620634 | 0.2222 | 0.011111 |
| 3 | 90.75 | 10.0833 | 8.430951 | 0.3333 | 0.016667 |
| 4 | 121 | 13.4444 | 11.241268 | 0.4444 | 0.022222 |
| 5 | 151.25 | 16.8056 | 14.051585 | 0.5556 | 0.027778 |
| 6 | 181.5 | 20.1667 | 16.861902 | 0.6667 | 0.033333 |
| 7 | 211.75 | 23.5278 | 19.672219 | 0.7778 | 0.038889 |
| 8 | 242 | 26.8889 | 22.482536 | 0.8889 | 0.044444 |
| 9 | 272.25 | 30.25 | 25.292853 | 1 | 0.05 |
| 18 | 544.5 | 60.5 | 50.585705 | 2 | 0.1 |
| 27 | 816.75 | 90.75 | 75.878558 | 3 | 0.15 |
| 36 | 1,089 | 121 | 101.171411 | 4 | 0.2 |
| 45 | 1,361.25 | 151.25 | 126.464263 | 5 | 0.25 |
| 90 | 2,722.5 | 302.5 | 252.928526 | 10 | 0.5 |
| 180 | 5,445 | 605 | 505.857053 | 20 | 1 |
| 1,440 | 43,560 | 4,840 | 4,046.856422 | 160 | 8 |
Two rows carry the chain: 9 sarsahi is a marla and 180 is a kanal. The 1,440 row is an acre.
The square-yard column is the one to watch. A sarsahi is 3.3611… square yards and the decimal recurs, because 121/36 has a nine in the denominator that nothing removes. This is the only unit in the Punjab chain whose square-yard value recurs (a marla is 30.25 and a kanal 605, both exact), and it is why the courts' own conversions of sarsahi figures are where the arithmetic goes wrong.
How many places to keep. Four is enough for any document: 3.3611 square yards is within a hundredth of a square foot of the true value, which is far finer than any measurement the record contains. What matters is not the precision but the direction, round once, at the end, and on the figure you are actually writing down. Converting each sarsahi separately and adding the roundings is how a nine-sarsahi total comes out at 30.2499 instead of 30.25.
The square-foot column never has this problem. Every sarsahi figure is exact in square feet (30.25, 60.5, 90.75, and so on), because a quarter is a terminating fraction. If you have a choice about which unit to carry through a calculation, carry square feet and convert once.
| Down to | One sarsahi comes to | Does it stop? |
|---|---|---|
| Square inch | 4,356 | Yes |
| Square foot | 30.25 | Yes |
| Square yard | 3.36111111… | No; it recurs |
| Square metre | 2.81031696 | Yes |
Trusting a parenthesis. Where a document converts sarsahi into square yards for you, divide it out: the figure should come to 3.3611 per sarsahi. One High Court judgment gives two, and no belt produces it. This is the one unit in the chain whose conversion recurs, which is exactly why the conversions people write down for it go wrong.
Rounding a sarsahi away. It is the smallest unit the record keeps and it is worth 30.25 square feet, about a doorway. A record that reads "14 marla 4½ sarsahi" is stating an area measured to fifteen square feet, and collapsing it into "14.5 marla" replaces a measurement with an arithmetic result. In a partition among heirs that is the difference the dispute is usually about.
Assuming a biswansi is a sarsahi anywhere. In Punjab they are one unit under two names, and the settlement manual says so. In Uttar Pradesh a biswansi is more than twice the size, and the word is the only thing the two share.
Asking how long a karam is and expecting one answer. It is a pace. The manual that governs the system says a pace varies by locality and that the surveys narrowed the variation without ending it. Four belt figures circulate; none of them is sourced to an instrument this series has read.
How many square feet in a square karam? 30.25 at the 66-inch karam, which is the standard belt. Majha gives 25, Doaba 22.960069 and Kapurthala 20.25.
Is a sarsahi the same as a square karam? Yes. Sarsahi is the name it takes in districts whose records count in kanals; biswansi is the name in districts that count in bighas. The Punjab Settlement Manual states the equivalence directly.
How many sarsahi in a marla and a kanal? Nine in a marla, 180 in a kanal, 1,440 in an acre. Those ratios hold in every belt.
How long is a karam? Nobody in this series has found an instrument that says. The settlement manual describes it as a pace and records that the pace varied by locality and that settlement surveys reduced the variation without abolishing it. The district figures were published in Panjab Revenue Circular No. 28, which this series has not reached.
Why do different districts give different answers? Because the unit is a step and steps differ. That is the manual's own explanation, and it is why four belt lengths circulate rather than one.
What is a sarsahi in square yards? 3.3611…, recurring. It is the only unit in the Punjab chain whose square-yard value does not terminate.
How do I read a sarsahi in a jamabandi? It is the third and last column, after kanal and marla, and the Marla page sets out how to add the three together. The part specific to this column: keep a fraction as a fraction. Half a sarsahi is 15.125 square feet, and carrying it up into the marla column replaces a measurement with a rounding.
Is a sarsahi worth litigating over? It has been. A 2014 Punjab and Haryana High Court appeal turned on an encroachment of eight sarsahi, 242 square feet, a square about fifteen and a half feet on a side.
Why does the square-yard figure recur when the square-foot figure does not? Because a sarsahi is 121/4 square feet, and dividing by nine to reach square yards puts a nine in the denominator that nothing removes. The marla, nine times larger, comes out at exactly 30.25.
Is the smallest unit ever rounded away? In practice yes, and one Punjab and Haryana judgment records a measurement dispute turning on whether an area was "8½ sarsahi" or something else on verification. The column exists because the difference is real.
| Statement | Source |
|---|---|
| The pace; "a square kadam the unit of measure of area"; the pace "varies greatly"; variations "reduced, but not abolished" | J. M. Douie, Punjab Settlement Manual, ¶ 243, read in a scanned transcription with damaged optical recognition; bracketed words are reconstructions |
| "the square kadam is known as the biswansi … it is known as the sarsahi"; "square kadams (biswansis or sarsahis as the case may be)" | Same, ¶ 243–244 |
| "details of the land measures officially recognized in [the several] districts will be found in Panjab Revenue Circular No. 28" | Same, ¶ 243; the circular itself was not reached |
| "possession of land measuring 8 Sarsahi (16 square yards) bearing khasra No.205" | P&H High Court, Hoshiar Singh v. Harbans Lal, 3 March 2014, Rakesh Kumar Garg J. |
| "5 marlas 6 sarsahi (i.e., 171 square yards)" | P&H High Court, Gurpreet Singh and Kulvir Singh v. State of Punjab, both 18 May 2026 |
| 235 documents contain sarsahi; 7 pair it with a square-yard figure | Indian Kanoon, September 2026; documents, not decisions |
| The four karam belts | Reported, not sourced, see the belt table and the Marla page |
| The biswansi at 7.5625 sq yd in Uttar Pradesh | Supreme Court, set out on the Biswa page |
Everything numeric here comes out of one stored value, the sarsahi at 121/4 square feet, which is 33/6 feet squared. Nothing was computed in floating point and nothing was rounded until it printed.
The control is the gloss table's last two columns. For each judgment the script takes the two quantities the document states, computes what the chain gives, computes the error, and, where the error is too large to be a truncation, computes the karam the document's own figure would require, and prints that. Nothing in the column is typed: mistranscribe a quotation or change the stored sarsahi and the implied karam moves, and the page's claim about that judgment fails with it.
The manual's two ladders are checked the same way. The script multiplies twenty by twenty and nine by twenty rather than accepting 400 and 180, and fails if either stops matching the chain the manual describes.
This is the bottom rung of the Punjab chain, and what belongs to it is the unit's own description in the settlement manual, the two names it goes by, and the one judicial figure the chain cannot produce. Above it: the Marla page has the two values in circulation, the kanal is the rung above that, the perch is the English unit the marla equals, and the killa and the murabba are the survey blocks. The ratios and the belts' districts belong to the acre, and are cited rather than restated.
| Conversion | 1 Square Karam | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Acre | 0.000694 | Recurring; Exact by definition: 43,560 sq ft = 4,840 sq yd |
| Ankanam | 0.420139 (Standard) | Region-specific; also 0.840278 (Tirupati) |
| Ares | 0.0281031696 | Exact; 100 m², the metric are |
| Bigha | 0.001389 (Punjab / west Haryana) | Region-specific; also 0.001111 (UP pucca / Bihar / Rajasthan pucca) · 0.003333 (UP kachha (6⅔ biswa)) · 0.004444 (UP kachha (5 biswa) / Uttarakhand hills) |
| Biswa | 0.066667 (Punjab / Haryana old records) | Region-specific; also 0.022222 (UP / Rajasthan pucca) · 0.034722 (Rajasthan kachha) · 0.069444 (Himachal Pradesh) |
| Biswa Kacha | 0.066667 (Punjab / Haryana revenue definition) | Region-specific; also 0.034722 (Rajasthan kachha reading) |
| Cent | 0.069444 | Recurring; One hundredth of an acre, exactly |
| Chatak | 0.672222 | Recurring; 5 sq yd exactly; 16 to the cottah, 968 to the acre. Reported, not stated by any instrument located |
| Decimal | 0.069444 | Recurring; One hundredth of an acre, exactly |
| Dhur | 0.444444 (Bihar / Jharkhand (Patna chain)) | Region-specific; also 8.402778 (Tripura) |
| Dismil | 0.069444 | Recurring; The decimal under another name |
| Gaj | 3.361111 | Recurring; The square yard, 9 sq ft |
| Gajam | 3.361111 | Recurring; The square yard in Telugu, 9 sq ft |
| Ground | 0.012604 | Recurring; 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 | 0.027778 | Recurring; 121 sq yd; 40 guntha = 1 acre exactly |
| Hectare | 0.000281031696 | Exact; 10,000 m² exactly |
| Kanal | 0.005556 | Recurring; the same in every karam belt, both units being the karam squared |
| Katha | 0.022222 (Bihar state standard) | Region-specific; also 0.042014 (West Bengal / Jharkhand) · 0.010503 (Assam) · 0.017361 (Bihar (Chhapra)) |
| Killa | 0.000694 | Recurring; The acre under its Punjabi name |
| Lessa | 0.210069 | Recurring; The 12-foot mauzadari jar squared (Assam Land Records Manual r.117); 20 to a katha, 100 to a bigha |
| Marla | 0.111111 | Recurring; the same in every karam belt, both units being the karam squared |
| Murabba | 0.0000278 (Punjab canal colony) | Region-specific; also 0.0000444 (Rajasthan (Indira Gandhi Canal)) |
| Nali | 0.014005 | Recurring; 240 sq yd; 16 mutthi of 135 sq ft. No instrument located states the figure |
| Perch | 0.111111 | Recurring; 30.25 sq yd; 160 perches = 1 acre |
| Pura | 0.000525 | Recurring; 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 | 28,103.1696 | Exact; One ten-thousandth of a square metre |
| Square Feet | 30.25 | Exact; The base of this series |
| Square Inch | 4,356 | Exact; One 144th of a square foot |
| Square Kilometer | 0.00000281031696 | Exact; 1,000,000 m² |
| Square Meter | 2.81031696 | Exact; The SI unit of area |
| Square Mile | 0.00000109 | Recurring; 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 | 3.361111 | Recurring; 9 sq ft exactly |
1 square karam = 0.000694 acres, recurring. An acre is exact by definition: 43,560 sq ft = 4,840 sq yd.
Computed on the Standard (66-inch karam) square karam of 30.25 square feet, one of 4 definitions this series carries for this unit.
Acre = Square Karam ÷ 1,440
| Square Karam | Acre |
|---|---|
| 1 | 0.000694 |
| 2 | 0.001389 |
| 3 | 0.002083 |
| 5 | 0.003472 |
| 10 | 0.006944 |
| 20 | 0.013889 |
| 50 | 0.034722 |
| 100 | 0.069444 |
| 200 | 0.138889 |
| 500 | 0.347222 |
| 1,000 | 0.694444 |
5 square karam ÷ 1,440 = 0.003472 acres
Square Karam = Acre × 1,440
1 square karam = 0.001389 bigha on the Punjab / west Haryana definition. The bigha has no single national value. It is also 0.001111 (UP pucca / Bihar / Rajasthan pucca) · 0.003333 (UP kachha (6⅔ biswa)) · 0.004444 (UP kachha (5 biswa) / Uttarakhand hills) and 5 more per square karam. Every definition this series has located is set out with the evidence behind it.
Computed on the Standard (66-inch karam) square karam of 30.25 square feet, one of 4 definitions this series carries for this unit.
Bigha = Square Karam ÷ 720 (Punjab / west Haryana)
| Square Karam | Bigha (Punjab / west Haryana) |
|---|---|
| 1 | 0.001389 |
| 2 | 0.002778 |
| 3 | 0.004167 |
| 5 | 0.006944 |
| 10 | 0.013889 |
| 20 | 0.027778 |
| 50 | 0.069444 |
| 100 | 0.138889 |
| 200 | 0.277778 |
| 500 | 0.694444 |
| 1,000 | 1.388889 |
| Bigha definition | Where it applies | 1 bigha in sq ft | Bigha per square karam | Terminates? | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UP pucca / Bihar / Rajasthan pucca | Purvanchal, Awadh, Patna belt, east Rajasthan | 27,225 | 0.001111 | Recurring | sourced |
| UP kachha (6⅔ biswa) | West Uttar Pradesh | 9,075 | 0.003333 | Recurring | sourced |
| UP kachha (5 biswa) / Uttarakhand hills | West UP, Kumaon and Garhwal hills | 6,806.25 | 0.004444 | Recurring | sourced |
| Rajasthan kachha / Gujarat vigha / Uttarakhand Terai | Marwar, Gujarat, Terai | 17,424 | 0.001736 | Recurring | sourced |
| Madhya Pradesh | Madhya Pradesh | 12,000 | 0.002521 | Recurring | reported, not sourced |
| West Bengal / Assam / Jharkhand | West Bengal, Assam, Ranchi | 14,400 | 0.002101 | Recurring | sourced |
| Himachal Pradesh / Haryana Rohtak belt | Himachal Pradesh, Rohtak, Hisar | 8,712 | 0.003472 | Recurring | sourced |
| Punjab / west Haryana (the definition used here) | Punjab, kanal belt of Haryana | 21,780 | 0.001389 | Recurring | sourced |
| Haryana Ambala belt | Ambala, Gurugram, Faridabad, Karnal, Panipat | 8,100 | 0.003735 | 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 square karam ÷ 720 = 0.006944 bigha
Square Karam = Bigha × 720 (Punjab / west Haryana)
Square Karam = Bigha × 900 (UP pucca / Bihar / Rajasthan pucca)
Square Karam = Bigha × 300 (UP kachha (6⅔ biswa))
Square Karam = Bigha × 225 (UP kachha (5 biswa) / Uttarakhand hills)
Square Karam = Bigha × 576 (Rajasthan kachha / Gujarat vigha / Uttarakhand Terai)
Square Karam = Bigha × 48,000/121 (Madhya Pradesh)
Square Karam = Bigha × 57,600/121 (West Bengal / Assam / Jharkhand)
Square Karam = Bigha × 288 (Himachal Pradesh / Haryana Rohtak belt)
Square Karam = Bigha × 32,400/121 (Haryana Ambala belt)
1 square karam = 0.066667 biswa on the Punjab / Haryana old records definition. The biswa has no single national value. It is also 0.022222 (UP / Rajasthan pucca) · 0.034722 (Rajasthan kachha) · 0.069444 (Himachal Pradesh) per square karam. Every definition this series has located is set out with the evidence behind it.
Computed on the Standard (66-inch karam) square karam of 30.25 square feet, one of 4 definitions this series carries for this unit.
Biswa = Square Karam ÷ 15 (Punjab / Haryana old records)
| Square Karam | Biswa (Punjab / Haryana old records) |
|---|---|
| 1 | 0.066667 |
| 2 | 0.133333 |
| 3 | 0.2 |
| 5 | 0.333333 |
| 10 | 0.666667 |
| 20 | 1.333333 |
| 50 | 3.333333 |
| 100 | 6.666667 |
| 200 | 13.333333 |
| 500 | 33.333333 |
| 1,000 | 66.666667 |
| Biswa definition | Where it applies | 1 biswa in sq ft | Biswa per square karam | Terminates? | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UP / Rajasthan pucca | Uttar Pradesh, east Rajasthan | 1,361.25 | 0.022222 | Recurring | sourced |
| Rajasthan kachha | Marwar | 871.2 | 0.034722 | Recurring | no instrument located |
| Punjab / Haryana old records (the definition used here) | Punjab, Haryana | 453.75 | 0.066667 | Recurring | sourced |
| Himachal Pradesh | Himachal Pradesh | 435.6 | 0.069444 | Recurring | 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.
| Square Karam | Biswa (1,361.25 sq ft) |
|---|---|
| 1 | 0.022222 |
| 2 | 0.044444 |
| 3 | 0.066667 |
| 5 | 0.111111 |
| 10 | 0.222222 |
| 20 | 0.444444 |
| 50 | 1.111111 |
| 100 | 2.222222 |
| 200 | 4.444444 |
| 500 | 11.111111 |
| 1,000 | 22.222222 |
| Square Karam | Biswa (871.2 sq ft) |
|---|---|
| 1 | 0.034722 |
| 2 | 0.069444 |
| 3 | 0.104167 |
| 5 | 0.173611 |
| 10 | 0.347222 |
| 20 | 0.694444 |
| 50 | 1.736111 |
| 100 | 3.472222 |
| 200 | 6.944444 |
| 500 | 17.361111 |
| 1,000 | 34.722222 |
| Square Karam | Biswa (435.6 sq ft) |
|---|---|
| 1 | 0.069444 |
| 2 | 0.138889 |
| 3 | 0.208333 |
| 5 | 0.347222 |
| 10 | 0.694444 |
| 20 | 1.388889 |
| 50 | 3.472222 |
| 100 | 6.944444 |
| 200 | 13.888889 |
| 500 | 34.722222 |
| 1,000 | 69.444444 |
5 square karam ÷ 15 = 0.333333 biswa
Square Karam = Biswa × 15 (Punjab / Haryana old records)
Square Karam = Biswa × 45 (UP / Rajasthan pucca)
Square Karam = Biswa × 28.8 (Rajasthan kachha)
Square Karam = Biswa × 14.4 (Himachal Pradesh)
1 square karam = 0.066667 biswa kacha on the Punjab / Haryana revenue definition. The biswa kacha has no single national value. It is also 0.034722 (Rajasthan kachha reading) per square karam. Every definition this series has located is set out with the evidence behind it.
Computed on the Standard (66-inch karam) square karam of 30.25 square feet, one of 4 definitions this series carries for this unit.
Biswa Kacha = Square Karam ÷ 15 (Punjab / Haryana revenue definition)
453.75 square feet either way, so the Square Karam 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 square karam | Terminates? | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Punjab / Haryana revenue definition (the definition used here) | Punjab, Haryana | 453.75 | 0.066667 | Recurring | sourced |
| Rajasthan kachha reading | Marwar | 871.2 | 0.034722 | Recurring | 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 Square Karam to Biswa, Rajasthan kachha figures apply unchanged. What differs between the two is the record each word belongs to, not the size.
5 square karam ÷ 15 = 0.333333 biswa kacha
Square Karam = Biswa Kacha × 15 (Punjab / Haryana revenue definition)
Square Karam = Biswa Kacha × 28.8 (Rajasthan kachha reading)
1 square karam = 0.000281031696 hectares, exact. A hectare is 10,000 m² exactly.
Computed on the Standard (66-inch karam) square karam of 30.25 square feet, one of 4 definitions this series carries for this unit.
The ratio is the fraction 17,564,481/62,500,000,000, or 0.000281031696 exactly.
Hectare = Square Karam × 0.000281031696
| Square Karam | Hectare |
|---|---|
| 1 | 0.000281031696 |
| 2 | 0.000562063392 |
| 3 | 0.000843095088 |
| 5 | 0.00140515848 |
| 10 | 0.00281031696 |
| 20 | 0.00562063392 |
| 50 | 0.0140515848 |
| 100 | 0.0281031696 |
| 200 | 0.0562063392 |
| 500 | 0.140515848 |
| 1,000 | 0.281031696 |
5 square karam × 0.000281031696 = 0.00140515848 hectares
Square Karam = Hectare ÷ 0.000281031696
1 square karam = 0.005556 kanal, and the same in every karam belt. Both units are the karam squared: where the local karam is shorter, a square karam and a kanal 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) square karam of 30.25 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.
Kanal = Square Karam ÷ 180
| Square Karam | Kanal (Standard (66-inch karam)) |
|---|---|
| 1 | 0.005556 |
| 2 | 0.011111 |
| 3 | 0.016667 |
| 5 | 0.027778 |
| 10 | 0.055556 |
| 20 | 0.111111 |
| 50 | 0.277778 |
| 100 | 0.555556 |
| 200 | 1.111111 |
| 500 | 2.777778 |
| 1,000 | 5.555556 |
| Kanal definition | Where it applies | 1 kanal in sq ft | Kanal per square karam | Terminates? | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Standard (66-inch karam) (the definition used here) | Most of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal, J&K | 5,445 | 0.005556 | Recurring | sourced |
| Majha belt (60-inch karam) | Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Tarn Taran | 4,500 | 0.005556 | Recurring | reported, not sourced |
| Doaba belt (57.5-inch karam) | Jalandhar, Kapurthala and Hoshiarpur, and Kangra in Himachal | 4,132.8125 | 0.005556 | Recurring | reported, not sourced |
| Kapurthala belt (54-inch karam) | Parts of Kapurthala | 3,645 | 0.005556 | Recurring | reported, not sourced |
The ratio does not move. The square karam and the kanal are both the karam squared, so a shorter karam shrinks them together and leaves the count between them unchanged: 0.005556 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 square karam into square feet, take the belt's own figure and the grading recorded with that unit.
5 square karam ÷ 180 = 0.027778 kanal
Square Karam = Kanal × 180 (Standard (66-inch karam))
Square Karam = Kanal × 180 (Majha belt (60-inch karam))
Square Karam = Kanal × 180 (Doaba belt (57.5-inch karam))
Square Karam = Kanal × 180 (Kapurthala belt (54-inch karam))
1 square karam = 0.111111 marla, and the same in every karam belt. Both units are the karam squared: where the local karam is shorter, a square karam 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) square karam of 30.25 square feet, one of 4 definitions this series carries for this unit.
Nine sarsahi to the marla, in every belt. The sarsahi is the square of the karam, so both units shrink together and the ratio holds.
Marla = Square Karam ÷ 9
| Square Karam | Marla (Standard (66-inch karam)) |
|---|---|
| 1 | 0.111111 |
| 2 | 0.222222 |
| 3 | 0.333333 |
| 5 | 0.555556 |
| 10 | 1.111111 |
| 20 | 2.222222 |
| 50 | 5.555556 |
| 100 | 11.111111 |
| 200 | 22.222222 |
| 500 | 55.555556 |
| 1,000 | 111.111111 |
| Marla definition | Where it applies | 1 marla in sq ft | Marla per square karam | Terminates? | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Standard (66-inch karam) (the definition used here) | Most of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal, J&K | 272.25 | 0.111111 | Recurring | sourced |
| Majha belt (60-inch karam) | Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Tarn Taran | 225 | 0.111111 | Recurring | reported, not sourced |
| Doaba belt (57.5-inch karam) | Jalandhar, Kapurthala and Hoshiarpur, and Kangra in Himachal | 206.640625 | 0.111111 | Recurring | reported, not sourced |
| Kapurthala belt (54-inch karam) | Parts of Kapurthala | 182.25 | 0.111111 | Recurring | reported, not sourced |
| HSVP urban estate | Haryana urban estates | 225 | n/a | n/a | sourced |
The ratio does not move. The square karam and the marla are both the karam squared, so a shorter karam shrinks them together and leaves the count between them unchanged: 0.111111 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 square karam into square feet, take the belt's own figure and the grading recorded with that unit.
5 square karam ÷ 9 = 0.555556 marla
Square Karam = Marla × 9 (Standard (66-inch karam))
Square Karam = Marla × 9 (Majha belt (60-inch karam))
Square Karam = Marla × 9 (Doaba belt (57.5-inch karam))
Square Karam = Marla × 9 (Kapurthala belt (54-inch karam))
Square Karam = Marla × 9 (HSVP urban estate)
1 square karam = 0.0000278 murabba on the Punjab canal colony definition. The murabba has no single national value. It is also 0.0000444 (Rajasthan (Indira Gandhi Canal)) per square karam. Every definition this series has located is set out with the evidence behind it.
Computed on the Standard (66-inch karam) square karam of 30.25 square feet, one of 4 definitions this series carries for this unit.
Murabba = Square Karam ÷ 36,000 (Punjab canal colony)
| Square Karam | Murabba (Punjab canal colony) |
|---|---|
| 1 | 0.0000278 |
| 2 | 0.0000556 |
| 3 | 0.0000833 |
| 5 | 0.000139 |
| 10 | 0.000278 |
| 20 | 0.000556 |
| 50 | 0.001389 |
| 100 | 0.002778 |
| 200 | 0.005556 |
| 500 | 0.013889 |
| 1,000 | 0.027778 |
| Murabba definition | Where it applies | 1 murabba in sq ft | Murabba per square karam | Terminates? | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Punjab canal colony (the definition used here) | Punjab, Haryana canal colonies | 1,089,000 | 0.0000278 | Recurring | reported, not sourced |
| Rajasthan (Indira Gandhi Canal) | Sri Ganganagar, Hanumangarh, Bikaner, Jaisalmer | 680,625 | 0.0000444 | Recurring | 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.
| Square Karam | Murabba (680,625 sq ft) |
|---|---|
| 1 | 0.0000444 |
| 2 | 0.0000889 |
| 3 | 0.000133 |
| 5 | 0.000222 |
| 10 | 0.000444 |
| 20 | 0.000889 |
| 50 | 0.002222 |
| 100 | 0.004444 |
| 200 | 0.008889 |
| 500 | 0.022222 |
| 1,000 | 0.044444 |
5 square karam ÷ 36,000 = 0.000139 murabba
Square Karam = Murabba × 36,000 (Punjab canal colony)
Square Karam = Murabba × 22,500 (Rajasthan (Indira Gandhi Canal))
1 square karam = 30.25 square feet, exact. A square foot is the base of this series.
Computed on the Standard (66-inch karam) square karam of 30.25 square feet, one of 4 definitions this series carries for this unit.
30.25 square feet on the standard 66-inch karam. The karam is a pace, and the manual that governs it says so, which is why the sarsahi is 25 square feet in Majha and about 20.25 in parts of Kapurthala.
The ratio is the fraction 121/4, or 30.25 exactly.
Square Feet = Square Karam × 30.25
| Square Karam | Square Feet |
|---|---|
| 1 | 30.25 |
| 2 | 60.5 |
| 3 | 90.75 |
| 5 | 151.25 |
| 10 | 302.5 |
| 20 | 605 |
| 50 | 1,512.5 |
| 100 | 3,025 |
| 200 | 6,050 |
| 500 | 15,125 |
| 1,000 | 30,250 |
5 square karam × 30.25 = 151.25 square feet
Square Karam = Square Feet ÷ 30.25
1 square karam = 2.81031696 square metres, exact. A square metre is the SI unit of area.
Computed on the Standard (66-inch karam) square karam of 30.25 square feet, one of 4 definitions this series carries for this unit.
The ratio is the fraction 17,564,481/6,250,000, or 2.81031696 exactly.
Square Meter = Square Karam × 2.81031696
| Square Karam | Square Meter |
|---|---|
| 1 | 2.81031696 |
| 2 | 5.62063392 |
| 3 | 8.43095088 |
| 5 | 14.0515848 |
| 10 | 28.1031696 |
| 20 | 56.2063392 |
| 50 | 140.515848 |
| 100 | 281.031696 |
| 200 | 562.063392 |
| 500 | 1,405.15848 |
| 1,000 | 2,810.31696 |
5 square karam × 2.81031696 = 14.0515848 square metres
Square Karam = Square Meter ÷ 2.81031696
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 square karam = 0.420139 ankanam on the Standard definition; 0.840278 on the Tirupati definition. Ankanam = Square Karam × 121/288 (Standard) · reverse Square Karam = Ankanam × 288/121
| Square Karam | Ankanam (Standard) |
|---|---|
| 1 | 0.420139 |
| 2 | 0.840278 |
| 3 | 1.260417 |
| 5 | 2.100694 |
| 10 | 4.201389 |
| 20 | 8.402778 |
| 50 | 21.006944 |
| 100 | 42.013889 |
| 200 | 84.027778 |
| 500 | 210.069444 |
| 1,000 | 420.138889 |
Every definition as a factor. Multiply square karam by the figure shown.
| Ankanam definition | Where | Ankanam per square karam |
|---|---|---|
| Standard (the definition used here) | Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, parts of Karnataka | 0.420139 |
| Tirupati | Tirupati and parts of Chittoor | 0.840278 |
1 square karam = 0.444444 dhur on the Bihar / Jharkhand (Patna chain) definition; 8.402778 on the Tripura definition. Dhur = Square Karam ÷ 2.25 (Bihar / Jharkhand (Patna chain)) · reverse Square Karam = Dhur × 2.25
| Square Karam | Dhur (Bihar / Jharkhand (Patna chain)) |
|---|---|
| 1 | 0.444444 |
| 2 | 0.888889 |
| 3 | 1.333333 |
| 5 | 2.222222 |
| 10 | 4.444444 |
| 20 | 8.888889 |
| 50 | 22.222222 |
| 100 | 44.444444 |
| 200 | 88.888889 |
| 500 | 222.222222 |
| 1,000 | 444.444444 |
Every definition as a factor. Multiply square karam by the figure shown.
| Dhur definition | Where | Dhur per square karam |
|---|---|---|
| Bihar / Jharkhand (Patna chain) (the definition used here); reported, not sourced | Patna belt, and Jharkhand districts counting in the Patna katha | 0.444444 |
| Tripura | Tripura | 8.402778 |
1 square karam = 0.022222 katha on the Bihar state standard definition; 0.042014 on the West Bengal / Jharkhand definition · 0.010503 on the Assam definition · 0.017361 on the Bihar (Chhapra) definition · 0.015911 on the Bihar (Hajipur) definition · 0.009259 on the Bihar (Bettiah) definition. Katha = Square Karam ÷ 45 (Bihar state standard) · reverse Square Karam = Katha × 45
1,361.25 square feet either way, so the Square Karam 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 square karam by the figure shown.
| Katha definition | Where | Katha per square karam |
|---|---|---|
| Bihar state standard (the definition used here) | Patna, Arrah | 0.022222 |
| West Bengal / Jharkhand | Rural West Bengal, Ranchi | 0.042014 |
| Assam | Assam (except Barak Valley) | 0.010503 |
| Bihar (Chhapra) | Saran | 0.017361 |
| Bihar (Hajipur) | Vaishali | 0.015911 |
| Bihar (Bettiah) | West Champaran | 0.009259 |
1 square karam = 0.0281031696 ares (exact). Ares = Square Karam × 0.0281031696 · reverse Square Karam = Ares ÷ 0.0281031696
| Square Karam | Ares |
|---|---|
| 1 | 0.0281031696 |
| 2 | 0.0562063392 |
| 3 | 0.0843095088 |
| 5 | 0.140515848 |
| 10 | 0.281031696 |
| 20 | 0.562063392 |
| 50 | 1.40515848 |
| 100 | 2.81031696 |
| 200 | 5.62063392 |
| 500 | 14.0515848 |
| 1,000 | 28.1031696 |
1 square karam = 0.069444 cent (recurring). Cent = Square Karam ÷ 14.4 · reverse Square Karam = Cent × 14.4
435.6 square feet either way, so the Square Karam to Biswa, Himachal Pradesh figures apply unchanged. What differs between the two is the record each word belongs to, not the size.
1 square karam = 0.672222 chatak (recurring). Chatak = Square Karam × 121/180 · reverse Square Karam = Chatak × 180/121
| Square Karam | Chatak |
|---|---|
| 1 | 0.672222 |
| 2 | 1.344444 |
| 3 | 2.016667 |
| 5 | 3.361111 |
| 10 | 6.722222 |
| 20 | 13.444444 |
| 50 | 33.611111 |
| 100 | 67.222222 |
| 200 | 134.444444 |
| 500 | 336.111111 |
| 1,000 | 672.222222 |
1 square karam = 3.361111 gaj (recurring). Gaj = Square Karam × 121/36 · reverse Square Karam = Gaj × 36/121
| Square Karam | Gaj |
|---|---|
| 1 | 3.361111 |
| 2 | 6.722222 |
| 3 | 10.083333 |
| 5 | 16.805556 |
| 10 | 33.611111 |
| 20 | 67.222222 |
| 50 | 168.055556 |
| 100 | 336.111111 |
| 200 | 672.222222 |
| 500 | 1,680.555556 |
| 1,000 | 3,361.111111 |
1 square karam = 0.012604 ground (recurring). Ground = Square Karam × 121/9,600 · reverse Square Karam = Ground × 9,600/121
| Square Karam | Ground |
|---|---|
| 1 | 0.012604 |
| 2 | 0.025208 |
| 3 | 0.0378125 |
| 5 | 0.063021 |
| 10 | 0.126042 |
| 20 | 0.252083 |
| 50 | 0.630208 |
| 100 | 1.260417 |
| 200 | 2.520833 |
| 500 | 6.302083 |
| 1,000 | 12.604167 |
1 square karam = 0.027778 guntha (recurring). Guntha = Square Karam ÷ 36 · reverse Square Karam = Guntha × 36
| Square Karam | Guntha |
|---|---|
| 1 | 0.027778 |
| 2 | 0.055556 |
| 3 | 0.083333 |
| 5 | 0.138889 |
| 10 | 0.277778 |
| 20 | 0.555556 |
| 50 | 1.388889 |
| 100 | 2.777778 |
| 200 | 5.555556 |
| 500 | 13.888889 |
| 1,000 | 27.777778 |
1 square karam = 0.210069 lessa (recurring). Lessa = Square Karam × 121/576 · reverse Square Karam = Lessa × 576/121
| Square Karam | Lessa |
|---|---|
| 1 | 0.210069 |
| 2 | 0.420139 |
| 3 | 0.630208 |
| 5 | 1.050347 |
| 10 | 2.100694 |
| 20 | 4.201389 |
| 50 | 10.503472 |
| 100 | 21.006944 |
| 200 | 42.013889 |
| 500 | 105.034722 |
| 1,000 | 210.069444 |
1 square karam = 0.014005 nali (recurring). Nali = Square Karam × 121/8,640 · reverse Square Karam = Nali × 8,640/121
| Square Karam | Nali |
|---|---|
| 1 | 0.014005 |
| 2 | 0.028009 |
| 3 | 0.042014 |
| 5 | 0.070023 |
| 10 | 0.140046 |
| 20 | 0.280093 |
| 50 | 0.700231 |
| 100 | 1.400463 |
| 200 | 2.800926 |
| 500 | 7.002315 |
| 1,000 | 14.00463 |
1 square karam = 0.000525 pura (recurring). Pura = Square Karam × 121/230,400 · reverse Square Karam = Pura × 230,400/121
| Square Karam | Pura |
|---|---|
| 1 | 0.000525 |
| 2 | 0.00105 |
| 3 | 0.001576 |
| 5 | 0.002626 |
| 10 | 0.005252 |
| 20 | 0.010503 |
| 50 | 0.026259 |
| 100 | 0.052517 |
| 200 | 0.105035 |
| 500 | 0.262587 |
| 1,000 | 0.525174 |
1 square karam = 28,103.1696 square centimeter (exact). Square Centimeter = Square Karam × 28,103.1696 · reverse Square Karam = Square Centimeter ÷ 28,103.1696
| Square Karam | Square Centimeter |
|---|---|
| 1 | 28,103.1696 |
| 2 | 56,206.3392 |
| 3 | 84,309.5088 |
| 5 | 140,515.848 |
| 10 | 281,031.696 |
| 20 | 562,063.392 |
| 50 | 1,405,158.48 |
| 100 | 2,810,316.96 |
| 200 | 5,620,633.92 |
| 500 | 14,051,584.8 |
| 1,000 | 28,103,169.6 |
1 square karam = 4,356 square inch (exact). Square Inch = Square Karam × 4,356 · reverse Square Karam = Square Inch ÷ 4,356
| Square Karam | Square Inch |
|---|---|
| 1 | 4,356 |
| 2 | 8,712 |
| 3 | 13,068 |
| 5 | 21,780 |
| 10 | 43,560 |
| 20 | 87,120 |
| 50 | 217,800 |
| 100 | 435,600 |
| 200 | 871,200 |
| 500 | 2,178,000 |
| 1,000 | 4,356,000 |
1 square karam = 0.00000281031696 square kilometer (exact). Square Kilometer = Square Karam × 0.00000281031696 · reverse Square Karam = Square Kilometer ÷ 0.00000281031696
| Square Karam | Square Kilometer |
|---|---|
| 1 | 0.00000281031696 |
| 2 | 0.00000562063392 |
| 3 | 0.00000843095088 |
| 5 | 0.0000140515848 |
| 10 | 0.0000281031696 |
| 20 | 0.0000562063392 |
| 50 | 0.000140515848 |
| 100 | 0.000281031696 |
| 200 | 0.000562063392 |
| 500 | 0.00140515848 |
| 1,000 | 0.00281031696 |
1 square karam = 0.00000109 square mile (recurring). Square Mile = Square Karam ÷ 921,600 · reverse Square Karam = Square Mile × 921,600
| Square Karam | Square Mile |
|---|---|
| 1 | 0.00000109 |
| 2 | 0.00000217 |
| 3 | 0.00000326 |
| 5 | 0.00000543 |
| 10 | 0.0000109 |
| 20 | 0.0000217 |
| 50 | 0.0000543 |
| 100 | 0.000109 |
| 200 | 0.000217 |
| 500 | 0.000543 |
| 1,000 | 0.001085 |
Six of the thirty-two units are two names for one area with another, so their figures are identical to the last digit.
1 square karam = 0.069444 decimal. A decimal and a cent are the same area, 435.6 square feet, so any Square Karam figure converts to the same number of either. Decimal = Square Karam ÷ 14.4 · reverse Square Karam = Decimal × 14.4
1 square karam = 0.069444 dismil. A dismil and a cent are the same area, 435.6 square feet, so any Square Karam figure converts to the same number of either. Dismil = Square Karam ÷ 14.4 · reverse Square Karam = Dismil × 14.4
1 square karam = 3.361111 gajam. A gajam and a gaj are the same area, 9 square feet, so any Square Karam figure converts to the same number of either. Gajam = Square Karam × 121/36 · reverse Square Karam = Gajam × 36/121
1 square karam = 0.000694 killa. A killa and an acre are the same area, 43,560 square feet, so any Square Karam figure converts to the same number of either. Killa = Square Karam ÷ 1,440 · reverse Square Karam = Killa × 1,440
1 square karam = 0.111111 perches. A perch and a marla are the same area, 272.25 square feet, so any Square Karam figure converts to the same number of either. Perch = Square Karam ÷ 9 · reverse Square Karam = Perch × 9
1 square karam = 3.361111 square yards. A square yard and a gaj are the same area, 9 square feet, so any Square Karam figure converts to the same number of either. Square Yard = Square Karam × 121/36 · reverse Square Karam = Square Yard × 36/121
The tables above are arithmetic, and for a square karam the arithmetic is the easy half. What decides whether the figure you started with is the right one to convert at all is The Unit Is a Pace.
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