Kanal: 1 Kanal in Katha, Marla, Acre and Square Feet

1 kanal is 7.5625 katha on the West Bengal measure, or exactly 4 katha on the Patna measure. A kanal is 5,445 sq ft, but the katha changes by region, so the answer depends on which katha you mean.

What is a kanal?

Kanal (कनाल) is the main land unit of Punjab and Haryana, and of the Kangra region and towns of Himachal Pradesh. It sits between the marla and the acre. Farm land in these states is recorded in kanal and marla in the jamabandi, and big houses in cities are often sold as "1 kanal" plots.

A kanal is 20 marla. With the standard marla of 272.25 sq ft, that gives 20 x 272.25 = 5,445 sq ft. Eight kanal make 1 acre (killa).

1 kanal in other units

• 1 kanal = 5,445 sq ft
• 1 kanal = 605 sq yd (gaj)
• 1 kanal = 505.86 sq m
• 1 kanal = 0.125 acre
• 1 kanal = 12.5 cents or decimal
• 1 hectare = 19.7684 kanal

Kanal chain

• 1 sarsai = 30.25 sq ft
• 1 marla = 9 sarsai = 272.25 sq ft
• 1 kanal = 20 marla = 5,445 sq ft
• 1 acre (killa or ghumaon) = 8 kanal = 43,560 sq ft

Before consolidation, parts of Punjab used a shorter karam, giving a marla of 225 sq ft and a kanal of 4,500 sq ft. Ask which kanal is meant if the land is in Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Ferozepur or Faridkot.

1 kanal in katha

These katha sizes are commonly used local values. See the katha page for all regions.

Kanal and bigha

Some websites say 1 bigha = 4 kanal, but that does not match the numbers. Four kanal is 21,780 sq ft, while the old Punjab and Haryana bigha is about 9,075 sq ft, which is 1.6667 kanal. Sources differ, so do not use the 4 kanal rule. Against the pucca bigha of Uttar Pradesh (27,225 sq ft), 1 kanal is 0.2 bigha. Use bigha to kanal for other regions.

How to convert kanal

1. Kanal to square feet: multiply by 5,445. Example: 3 kanal = 16,335 sq ft.
2. Kanal to acre: divide by 8. Example: 12 kanal = 1.5 acre.
3. Kanal to gaj: multiply by 605. Example: 2 kanal = 1,210 gaj.
4. Kanal and marla together: change everything to marla. 5 kanal 12 marla = 5 x 20 + 12 = 112 marla = 30,492 sq ft.

See kanal to square feet, kanal to acre and kanal to hectare.

What a 1 kanal plot looks like

A 1 kanal plot of 5,445 sq ft can be laid out as 55 ft by 99 ft, or as 45 ft by 121 ft. Half a kanal (10 marla) is 2,722.5 sq ft.

Worked example: dividing kanal among heirs

Three brothers inherit 7 kanal 10 marla. First change it all to marla: 7 x 20 + 10 = 150 marla. Each brother gets 50 marla, which is 2 kanal 10 marla, or 13,612.5 sq ft each. In acres, each share is 0.3125 acre.

Working in marla avoids errors that come from mixing kanal and acre in one sum. Do the sum, then convert back to kanal and marla for the papers.

Kanal in Himachal Pradesh

In the Kangra region and in towns of Himachal Pradesh, kanal and marla have the same sizes as in Punjab: 1 kanal = 5,445 sq ft. The rest of Himachal mostly uses bigha and biswa, where 1 bigha is 8,712 sq ft, so 1 kanal = 0.625 Himachal bigha. See the Himachal Pradesh guide.

Tips

• Check the jamabandi on the official Haryana or Punjab land records portal for the kanal and marla figure.
• For a sale or partition, confirm the measure with the patwari or tehsil office.