Nepalese customary units of measurement

In Nepal, some customary units of measurement are still used, although the metric system has been the official standard since 1968.^[1]

Length

The kos (kosh, krosh, koss) is a very ancient measure of distance, measuring about 2.25 miles or 3.7 km.^[2]

• 1 murii = approx. 0.75 inch
• 4 angul = 1 dharnugrah (bow grip) = 3 in
• 8 angul = 1 dhanurmushti (fist with thumb raised) = 6 in
• 12 angul = 1 vitastaa (span) = 9 in
• 2 vitastaa (cubit) = 18 in
• 1 haath = 1.5 ft.
• 1 dand or dhanush (bow) = 4 haath = 6 ft
• 2000 dand = 1 kos or Gorut = 4000 yards or 2.25 miles
• 4 kosh = 1 yojan = 9 miles = 14.48 km

Land area

In Nepal, for land area measurements two types of unit systems are used. In hilly regions, ropani-aana-paisa-daam units are used while in terai regions, bigha-kattha-dhur units measurements are used. We may need to convert land area units such as aana to dhur, dhur to aana, kattha to aana, ropani to bigha, square meter to aana, square meter to dhur etc, For such area units conversion you may use Area Converter Calculator.^[3]

The precise land measurement conversions as per Nepal standard are as follows:

Units	khetmuri	bigha	kattha	dhur	ropani	aana	paisa	dam	sq.feet	sq.meter
khetmuri	1	1.877914952	37.55829904	751.1659808	25	400	1600	6400	136900	12718.42618
bigha	0.532505478	1	20	400	13.31263696	213.0021914	852.0087655	3408.035062	72900	6772.631616
kattha	0.026625274	0.05	1	20	0.665631848	10.65010957	42.60043828	170.4017531	3645	338.6315808
dhur	0.001331264	0.0025	0.05	1	0.033281592	0.532505478	2.130021914	8.520087655	182.25	16.93157904
ropani	0.04	0.075116598	1.502331962	30.04663923	1	16	64	256	5476	508.737047
aana	0.0025	0.004694787	0.093895748	1.877914952	0.0625	1	4	16	342.25	31.79606544
paisa	0.000625	0.001173697	0.023473937	0.469478738	0.015625	0.25	1	4	85.5625	7.94901636
dam	0.00015625	0.000293424	0.005868484	0.117369684	0.00390625	0.0625	0.25	1	21.390625	1.98725409
sq. feet	7.3046E-06	1.37174E-05	0.000274348	0.005486968	0.000182615	0.002921841	0.011687363	0.046749452	1	0.09290304
sq. meter	7.86261E-05	0.000147653	0.002953062	0.059061237	0.001965652	0.031450432	0.125801729	0.503206915	10.76391042	1

In a nutshell, The following is a partial list of everyday units used to calculate land area in Nepal.^[4][5]

• 1 Khetmuri = 25 Ropani
• 1 Bigha (बिघा) = 20 Kattha (कठ्ठा) = 6772.63 m² = 72900 sq.ft. = 13.31 Ropani
• 1 Katha (कठ्ठा) = 20 Dhur (धुर) = 338.63 m² = 3645 sq.ft.
• 1 Dhur (धुर) = 16.93 m² = 182.25 sq.ft.
• 1 Ropani (रोपनी) = 16 Aana (आना) = 64 Paisa (पैसा) = 508.72 m² = 5476 sq.ft. = 256 Daam (दाम) = 4 llka^[6]
• 1 Aana (आना)= 4 Paisa (पैसा) = 31.80 m² = 342.25 sq. ft. = 16 Daam (दाम)
• 1 Paisa (पैसा) = 4 Daam (दाम) = 7.95 m² = 85.56 sq. ft.
• 1 Daam (दाम) = 1.99 m² = 21.39 sq. ft.

The units of measurement of area of land depends on the part of the country where they are being used, with the Bigha-Katha-Dhur measurements common in the Terai region while the Ropani-Aana measurements are common in hilly and mountainous regions.

Terai region

In the Terai region, the southern parts of Nepal, the customary units are those used elsewhere in South Asia:

• 1 katha = 20 dhur
• 1 bigha = 20 katha

Hilly and mountainous regions

A different system is used in hilly regions:

• 1 paisa = 4 dam (daam)
• 1 ana (aana) = 4 paisa^[2]
• 1 ropani = 16 ana

Conversions

• 1 ropani = 74 feet × 74 feet
• 1 bigha = 13 Ropani 5 Anna
• 1 kattha = 442 square yards or 338 square meters^[7]

Volume

• 10 Mutthi (fistful) = 1 Mana
• 8 Mana = 1 Pathi (4.54596L)^[8]
• 20 Pathi = 1 Muri

See also

• List of customary units of measurement in South Asia