General · EdgepediaOctober 15, 20265 min read

Tola (unit)

Tola (Hindi: tolā, from Sanskrit tolaka, from the root tul, "to weigh") is a traditional unit of mass that served as the fundamental unit of the British Indian weights and measures system established in 1833, despite having already been employed for a far longer period.¹⁸^•¹ Regulation VII of 1833 fixed the tola at 180 troy grains, equal to 11.6638038 grams or exactly 3/8 troy ounce, as "the unit of a general system of Weights in all Government transactions".¹⁹^•² Twelve mashas made one tola, 80 tolas one seer, and 40 seers one maund.³ Although replaced by metric units, the 10-tola gold bar (3.75 troy ounces, about 116.64 g) remains a popular denomination in India, Pakistan, and Singapore.⁴

The name derives from Hindi tolā, from Sanskrit tolaka, from the root tul, "to weigh"¹.

Key fact	Detail
Standard value	180 troy grains = 11.6638038 grams = exactly 3/8 troy ounce¹⁹
Legal fixation	Regulation VII of 1833 fixed the tola at 180 grains as the unit of a general system of weights for Government transactions²
Subdivisions	12 mashas = 1 tola; 80 tolas = 1 seer; 40 seers = 1 maund³
Modern bullion use	The 10-tola gold bar (3.75 troy oz, about 116.64 g) remains a popular denomination in India, Pakistan, and Singapore⁴
Regional variant	In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, the tola is commonly taken as 12.5 grams, while the rest of the country uses about 11.66 grams⁵

Standardization under British rule

Before 1833, Indian weights varied by region, commodity, and period, and the rupees of the different presidencies differed in weight: the Sicca rupee of Bengal stood at 192 grains while the rupees of Madras and Bombay were already 180 grains². James Prinsep, the Assay Master of Calcutta, proposed in the Journal of the Asiatic Society (October 1832) that 180 grains be adopted as the standard for the tola weight, noting that a seer of 80 such tolas would be exactly 2½ troy pounds and a maund of 40 seers exactly 100 troy pounds².

The Government of India passed Regulation VII of 1833, which fixed the Farruckabad rupee at 180 grains and declared the tola "the unit of a general system of Weights in all Government transactions"²^•⁶. The regulation's scale ran 8 rattis = 1 masha = 15 troy grains, 12 mashas = 1 tola = 180 troy grains, 80 tolas = 1 seer = 2½ troy pounds, and 40 seers = 1 maund = 100 troy pounds³.

Place in the traditional weight system

The tola sat within a seed-based hierarchy that predated British standardization. In the system recorded before 1833, four rice grains (chāwāl) made one dhān, four dhān made one ratti of 1.75 grains, eight ratti made one māṣa, and twelve māṣa, or 96 ratti, made one tola of 180 grains⁷. Above it, 80 tolas made one seer and 40 seers one maund of about 37.3 kilograms⁷. Regional schemes differed: in Mewar, 12 masha made a tola and 100 tolas made a "kacha" chhatank, the Mewar state standard, as distinct from the "pakka" tola of the British Indian government⁸. In Kashmir, the tola equaled 16 masha, each masha being 6 surkhs⁹.

Metric transition

India moved to the metric system through the Standards of Weights and Measures Act, 1956, which established uniform metric standards nationwide; metric weight became mandatory by October 1960 and metric measure by April 1962¹⁰^•¹¹. The 1956 conversion tables defined 1 tola as 0.375 troy ounces, 11.66375 grams¹⁰, and Indian standard IS 786 (1967) added conversion tables for pricing from tola to gram as the changeover proceeded¹². Pakistani conversion tables likewise list 1 tola = 11.6638 grams¹³.

Use in the bullion market today

Although officially replaced by metric units, the tola remains in active use for precious metals. The 10-tola bar, containing 3.75 troy ounces of .999 fine gold (about 116.64 g), is a standard cast-bar denomination traded in India, Pakistan, and Singapore; Rand Refinery introduced its version in 1986⁴^•¹⁴. Refiners in Australia, South Africa, Switzerland, and the UK dominate the supply of 10-tola bars imported into India¹⁴.

In Pakistan, gold is traded in grams, tolas, and kilograms, with consumer transactions typically in grams or tolas; no government body has formally defined the tola's exact metric value, and in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa the tola is commonly considered equal to 12.5 grams against the roughly 11.66-gram measure used elsewhere in the country⁵. Retail prices are quoted per tola in Pakistan¹⁵ and per tola in Nepal¹⁶. In Bangladesh the equivalent unit is the bhori, fixed at 11.664 grams, the unit in which the Bangladesh Jewellers Association announces official gold prices¹⁷.

References

Topic: Encyclopedia › Physical world and mathematics › Measurement and time › Historical and customary measurement systems › National and regional customary systems › Indian and South Asian customary units

Initially written Oct 15, 2026 · Edited: Oct 25, 2026

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