Surch

Surch or Sorch ( Persian سرخ" DMG sur" , "the red") was an Indian unit of weight that was used at the time of the Grand Mogul Akbar I (1542–1605). Like the rati, it was based on the weight of the paternoster pea ( Abrus precatorius ). It was:

• 1 surch = 1/8 masha = 0.125525 grams
  • 1 masha = 1.0042 grams

Akbar's silver rupee was the basis for the Masha measure. This weighed 11½ masha, exactly 11.5484 grams.

literature

• Abū l-Fazl ʿAllāmī : Āʾīn-i Akbarī . Ed. Henry Blochmann. Calcutta 1877, vol. II, p. 59 f. ( Digitized version ). - Engl. Transl. HS Jarrett. Vol. III, pp. 125-127 ( digitized version ).
• Walther Hinz : Islamic measures and weights: converted into the metric system. EJ Brill. Leiden / Cologne 1970 Supplementary Volume 1, Issue 1, pp. 23, 33 (reprint).