Marla: Marla to Acre, Hectare and Square Yard

1 acre is 160 marla on the standard measure, so to go from marla to acre you divide by 160. One standard marla is 272.25 sq ft. An older marla of 225 sq ft is still heard in parts of Punjab, which gives 193.6 marla per acre.

What is a marla?

Marla (मरला) is the small land unit of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh (mainly the Kangra region) and Jammu. Houses and plots in these areas are often sold as 5 marla or 10 marla. Farm land is counted in kanal and killa, which are made of marlas.

The marla comes from the karam, a measuring rod of 66 inches (5.5 ft). One square karam is a sarsai of 30.25 sq ft, and 9 sarsai make 1 marla: 9 x 30.25 = 272.25 sq ft. Before consolidation some districts used a shorter karam of 60 inches, which gave the old 225 sq ft marla still seen in Amritsar, Gurdaspur and Ferozepur.

The marla chain

• 1 karam = 5.5 ft (length)
• 1 sarsai = 1 square karam = 30.25 sq ft
• 1 marla = 9 sarsai = 272.25 sq ft
• 1 kanal = 20 marla = 5,445 sq ft
• 1 killa (acre) = 8 kanal = 160 marla = 43,560 sq ft

Size of 1 marla

Size of one marla by region

The standard marla is the official one in Punjab and Haryana revenue records. The 225 sq ft marla is commonly used in some urban deals too, so ask which marla a dealer means.

Marla to acre

Divide the marla count by 160. One standard marla is 0.0063 acre.

Marla to hectare

1 hectare = 395.37 standard marla, and 1 marla = 0.0025 hectare. The Punjab Land Records Manual asks patwaris to also give areas in hectares, so this is useful when you read newer papers.

Square yard to marla

1 standard marla = 30.25 sq yd. So divide square yards by 30.25 to get marla. A 100 sq yd plot is 3.3058 marla, and a 200 sq yd plot is 6.6116 marla. On the old measure, 1 marla is exactly 25 sq yd.

How big is a 5 marla or 10 marla plot?

• 5 marla = 1,361.25 sq ft (standard), for example 25 ft by 54.45 ft.
• 10 marla = 2,722.5 sq ft (standard), for example 50 ft by 54.45 ft.
• On the old measure, 5 marla = 1,125 sq ft, for example 25 ft by 45 ft.

Use marla to square feet or marla to gaj for any number, and read the Punjab and Haryana guides.

Common mistakes with marla

• Mixing two marlas. A 10 marla plot is 2,722.5 sq ft on the standard measure but only 2,250 sq ft on the old measure. The gap is 472.5 sq ft, which is a lot of money in a city.
• Treating marla as a square yard figure. A marla is not 25 gaj everywhere. On the standard measure it is 30.25 gaj.
• Forgetting the kanal. Records give kanal and marla together. 2 kanal 5 marla is 45 marla, not 25 marla.

In Himachal Pradesh, kanal and marla entries are mainly found in the Kangra region and in areas that came from Punjab. Most other districts of Himachal use bigha and biswa, where 1 bigha is 8,712 sq ft, which is exactly 32 standard marla.

Tips

• Jamabandi entries are written as kanal and marla, for example 3 kanal 7 marla = 3 x 20 + 7 = 67 marla = 18,240.75 sq ft.
• For a sale or partition, confirm the marla with the patwari and check the jamabandi.