From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
System of units of measurement historically used in Afghanistan
A variety of
units of measurement have been used in
Afghanistan to measure length, mass and capacity. Those units were similar to
Iranian ,
Arabian and
Indian units.
[1] In 1924, Afghanistan adopted the
metric system .
[2]
[3]
Length
These lengths are not necessarily standardized and could differ between different regions of Afghanistan:
[4]
1 gaz-i-shah (Kabul yard) = 1.065
meters (m)
1 girah-i gaz-i-shah = 0.066 m
1 gaz-i-mimar (mason's yard) = 0.838 m
1 gaz-i-jareeb (for land) = 0.736 m
1
jareeb (one side) = 44.183 m
1 biswah (one side) = 9.879 m
1 biswasah (one side) = 2.209 m
1 jareeb (land measurement) = 2,000 m2 (standardized)
1 goes = 1.16 m (45.67 in)
[1]
Weights
1 nakhud = 0.19
gram (g)
[4]
[5]
1
misqal = 24 nakhuds = 4.4 g
1 khurd = 110.4 g
1 pao = 441.6 g
1 charak = 1766.4 g = 1.77
kilogram (kg)
1
seer = 30 miskals = 7066.0 g = 7.07 kg
1 man = 40 seers = 4.5 or more kg
1 kharwar = 80 sers = 100 mans = 565,280.0 g = 565.28 kg
1 puri = just under 1 kg
1 khaltar = approximately 7 kg
Localized differences
British sources from the late 19th and early 20th century described some Afghanese weights as follows:
1
Herati seer = 8
tolas = 1 ⁄10 British (Indian) seer
1 Herati man = 40 seers = 4 seers British
1 Herati kharwar = 100 mans = 10
maunds British
1
Mazar seer = 1 1 ⁄2
Kabuli seers (11 1 ⁄4 ) British seers
1 Mazar man = 16 Mazar seers = 4 maunds 20 seers British
1 Mazar kharwar = 3 Mazar mans = 13 maunds
1 kadam or gaz-i-shari (
Turkestan ) = 28 inches (
pace ) = 16 tasa
1 farsakh (Herat) or 1 sang (Turkestan) = 12,000 kadam = 5
miles
1 grain per kulba (southern Afghanistan) = 50
Kandahari kharwars
1
Tashkurghan seer = 9 British seers
1 Taskhurghan man = 8 seers = 1 maund 32 seers British
1 Kandahari yard = 41 1 ⁄2 inches British
1 tanab (Kandahar) = 85
acres British
See also
References
^
a
b Clarke, F.W. (1891). Weights Measures and Money of All Nations . New York: D. Appleton & Company. p. 10.
^
Proceedings of the 7th General Conference on Weights and Measures
Archived 2020-12-04 at the
Wayback Machine , 1927, page 68 (French)
^ Cardarelli, F. (2003).
Encyclopaedia of Scientific Units, Weights and Measures. Their SI Equivalences and Origins . London: Springer. pp.
7 .
ISBN
978-1-4471-1122-1 .
^
a
b
"Afghanistan Gazetteer" (PDF) .
Archived (PDF) from the original on 2023-03-08. Retrieved 2023-03-08 .
^ DuPee, M.C. (2009),
Afghan Narcotics Terms and Phrases (PDF) , Naval Postgraduate School/Program for Culture and Conflict Studies,
archived (PDF) from the original on 2018-08-08, retrieved 2018-08-08
Current
Background
Historic
Metric Europe Asia Africa North America South America
Ancient List articles Other