How accurate are the tola, maund, seer, and chatank conversions?
They use the modern standardized metric equivalents (1 tola = 11.6638 grams is the figure used in the gold trade across Pakistan and India) rather than older, more locally-variable historical values. These are stable, low-controversy figures — unlike, say, the Marla, whose actual size genuinely differs by region.
What are Masha and Ratti, and how do they relate to a Tola?
Both are traditional South Asian units used mainly for weighing gold, silver, and gemstones — a Ratti is smaller than a Masha, which is smaller than a Tola. The relationship is exact and fixed: 12 Masha = 1 Tola, and 96 Ratti = 1 Tola (so 8 Ratti = 1 Masha). At 1 Tola = 11.6638g, that puts 1 Masha at 0.972g and 1 Ratti at 0.1215g — jewellers still use Ratti for precise gemstone weights and Masha/Tola for gold.
Is a Pao exactly a quarter kilogram?
Not traditionally, but that's how it's used today. The historical definition of a Pao is an exact quarter of a Seer (933.1g ÷ 4 ≈ 233.3g) — noticeably less than 250g. In everyday Pakistani grocery and retail use, though, "pao" has been rounded to match the metric system and is now used to mean 250g (a quarter kg) almost universally. This converter uses the modern 250g figure since that's what a shopper means by "ek pao" in practice today.
What is Chawal, and how small is it?
Chawal ("rice grain") is the smallest traditional desi weight unit, one step below Ratti — the documented relationship is 8 Chawal = 1 Ratti. At Ratti = 0.1215g, that puts 1 Chawal at roughly 0.0152g. Unlike Ratti, Masha, and Tola, Chawal doesn't have an independently fixed historical gram value in any source we found — this converter derives it from the 8:1 ratio to Ratti so it stays mathematically consistent with the rest of the chain, rather than guessing an absolute figure.
Is a Maund 40kg or 37.3kg? Is a Seer 1kg or 933g?
Both figures are genuinely in use, for different reasons. The historical/British-Indian standard — the one Pakistan's own government gazette cites — is 1 Maund = 37.3242kg and 1 Seer = 933.1g (40 Seer = 1 Maund exactly). But today's commodity and wholesale trade very commonly rounds this to a "metric maund" of 40kg and a "metric seer" of ~1kg, for easier metric-scale math. This converter offers both as separate, clearly labeled units — pick whichever matches the context you're converting for (a mandi/wholesale price is usually the modern 40kg maund; an older reference document is usually the traditional 37.3242kg figure).
What's the full traditional desi weight chain, smallest to largest?
Khashkhash → Chawal → Ratti → Masha → Tank → Tola → Karsha → Chatank → Pala → Pao → Seer → Passeri → Maund. In relationships: 8 Khashkhash = 1 Chawal, 8 Chawal = 1 Ratti, 8 Ratti = 1 Masha, 12 Masha = 1 Tola (= 3 Tank), 5 Tola = 1 Chatank (equivalently 16 Chatank = 1 Seer), 4 Chatank = 1 Pao, 4 Pao = 1 Seer, 5 Seer = 1 Passeri, 8 Passeri = 40 Seer = 1 Maund. See our blog post on the full system for the Urdu names, history, and which additional historical units we deliberately left out.
What are Karsha and Pala? Why do they show a slightly different gram value than the Masha-based chain?
Karsha and Pala come from classical Ayurvedic and Unani pharmacy dosing, a parallel system to the jewelry/grain-trade chain above. Ayurvedic reference texts cite clean, rounded "formulary standard" values for dosing simplicity — Karsha = 12g exactly, Pala = 4 Karsha = 48g exactly — which is very close to but not quite identical to what 12 Masha would give via the trade chain (11.664g). Both figures are real and both are correctly sourced; they just come from two different historical uses of these units, so this converter uses the Ayurvedic formulary standard for Karsha/Pala specifically.
What is a Passeri?
Passeri (from "panch," five) is a wholesale bazaar unit equal to 5 Seer — traders in a mandi commonly quote grain and produce prices "per Passeri." At the traditional Seer (933.1g), that's 4.6655kg, and 8 Passeri makes exactly 1 Maund. A rounded modern ~5kg Passeri is also offered, mirroring the same historical-vs-modern split as Seer and Maund.
What about Dharana and Khandi/Candy? Aren't those traditional units too?
They are, and — unlike most units on this page — neither has a single defensible value, even with good sourcing, because each genuinely meant different things in different historical systems or regions (not a sourcing gap we could resolve by looking harder). Use the dedicated Dharana & Khandi/Candy Calculator instead, which lets you pick the specific textual or regional system you mean and shows exactly why the others disagree.
What about Bahar?
Not added. Bahar is explicitly a commodity- and port-dependent maritime trade unit that varied 190-272kg depending on what was being weighed and where — a genuinely variable unit by design (like how "a barrel" means a different volume depending on whether it's oil or beer), not a fixed conversion factor with one right answer to look up.
Why isn't land area (Marla, Kanal) included here?
Because Marla specifically doesn't have one fixed size — the Punjab revenue standard (272.25 sq ft) and the Lahore private-scheme standard (225 sq ft) genuinely differ, and treating it as a simple fixed conversion factor would silently produce a wrong answer for whichever standard the user didn't intend. Use the dedicated Land Area Converter instead, which handles this properly.
Why does temperature conversion work differently from the other categories?
Every other category here is a simple multiplication (a fixed ratio between units). Temperature scales have different zero points as well as different scale sizes, so converting between them requires an offset calculation (e.g. °F = °C × 9/5 + 32), not just a multiplier — that's why temperature is handled as its own case internally.
Is my data sent anywhere?
No. Everything is calculated locally in your browser.