At the cession of the Carnatic, besides the Chittur pollams in N. Arcot, there were the two large zamiudaries of Calastry and Cavetnaggur, the latter also known as Bom Rauze's country. Throughout the latter country (Bom &me's) the foot of the village god of Nanaveram vas always taken as the unit of land, Measurement of which 64 = 1 gant'ha.
100 gant'ha in Pungil_ = 1 cawni.
12 or 15 in Nungi j Bigka.—For square measures, the bigha is the most widely-spread standard. It is based upon the guz or cubit, and therefore differs in at least an equal proportion ; the name being applied to any decently large area varying from an acre to 1500 square yards.
In Calcutta, the value is said to bc 1600 square yards, while according to a very careful calcu lation made by Mr. Holwell, and quoted by Major Jervis, the real content should be 1778 square yards, more than ten per cent. greater than is commonly believed.
In Orissa, to the south of Calcutta, the biglia is 4840 square yards; while in Behar, to the west, it is only 3025 square yards. In Tirhut, it may contain amongst other values, any one of the following quantities,-3025, 3567, 3600, 4225, 4549, and 4900 square yards! Such a measure can only be of use to confuse. At Sabarunpur, the bigha contains in one village 8241 square yards ; in another, 2317.4 square yards • in a third, 2456.2 square yards ; while in a 'fourth it contains 2756 square yards. In Nuddea, it may contain either 6400 or 3025 square cubits. The Bogra bigha is 1406.-} square yards, while that of Dchli is 3025, and that at Ghazipur contains 27551 square yards. At Shahjahanpur it may either be 2916 or 3600 square yards, while at Hoshangabad it is 4865h., and at Benares 3136 square yards. On the western side of India, the variations are equally numerous. At Broach, the bigha contains 2477 ; at Surat, 2844 ; in other parts of Gujerat, 2994 ; while in the east it contains no less than 4013 square yards.
In Southern India, it appears to have been the custom in ancient times to name an area of land after the quantity of grain that it was thought would sow it,• or the quantity it was thought it would produce.' Thus, for instance, a candy of land was as much as would produce a candy of grain, and this was by estimate and not by actual measurement ; or if a measured' area was considered a, candy in one village, it would not be so in the next. Even -where there is some
defined superficial measure, commencing frovo a rod square, the number of cubits to the rod varies, though the term by which the square rod is known is the same.
Cawnie.—In some districts of the Madras Pre_ sidency the land measure is well defined, as in The case of the cawnie and the acre. The former no doubt formerly differed in different place?„ but its dimensions seem to have been ..€1,5erniiined and - introduced by Royaji the celebrated dewan of Muhammad Ali (Wall'ajah), nawan of the Car natio. Wherever the cawnie exists, it is now 57,600 square feet, or 1.322314 acres, except in some of the taluks of Trichinopoly. The English acre was introduced by Sir T. Munro into Bellary and Cuddapah during the survey of 1802-1806, and, 1842, it was introduced on a similar occasion into Kurnool. In both cases the chain of 33 feet was used instead of Gunter's chain of 66 feet, so that the square chain was Ath acre, thus introducing an awkward sub-multiple.
The term goonta or coonta is synonymous with culi and guli. The word seems to denote the land measure next below the maximum of the place ; thus the pooty of Rajamundry, the cutty of Masulipatam, the coatchel of Guntur, the goontoo of Nellore, the cawnie of Chingleput, the acre of Bellary, and the mow of Tanjore, are all subdivided into goonta (coonta) or culi (guli). The goontoo, etc., of one district, is not at all necessarily the same as the goontoo, etc., of another.
ifarti.—In Madras, Sir Thomas Munro estab lished a measure (called a ground or inani) of 60 X 40, or 2400 square feet, of which 24 make a kani = 57,600 square feet = 6400 square yards, or exactly equal to four Bengal bighas.
The Madras kani is to the English acre as 1 to 1.3223, or as 121 to 160 nearly.
Adi.—In Chingleput, the adi or Malabar foot is used, which is 10.46 inches ; 24 adi = 1 kali, and 100 square kali = 1 kani, or nearly an English acre. The common kani, however, is 26 adis, or 24 feet, which makes the kani = 1 acre 281 perches.