Nali: 1 Nali in Square Feet and Gaj

1 nali is 2,160 sq ft, which is 240 gaj. Nali (नाली) is the land unit of the hill districts of Uttarakhand, in Kumaon and Garhwal, and 1 nali is split into 16 mutthi.

What is a nali?

In the hills of Uttarakhand, fields are small and terraced, so land is counted in nali and mutthi rather than in big units like the acre. Plots for houses and small farms in places like Almora, Nainital, Pauri or Tehri are often sold by the nali. In the plains districts (Haridwar, Udham Singh Nagar and the Dehradun valley), people deal more in bigha and square yards.

The value of 2,160 sq ft (240 sq yd) comes from an Uttarakhand judicial academy document and matches other sources. That document also gives the nali as 200.6706 sq m, which is the same area.

The nali chain

• 1 mutthi = 135 sq ft
• 1 nali = 16 mutthi = 2,160 sq ft
• 1 bigha (Uttarakhand reference value) = 6,804 sq ft = 3.15 nali

1 nali in other units

• 1 nali = 2,160 sq ft
• 1 nali = 240 gaj (sq yd)
• 1 nali = 200.67 sq m
• 1 nali = 4.9587 cents or decimal
• 1 nali = 0.0496 acre, and 1 acre = 20.1667 nali
• 1 hectare = 49.83 nali

Nali to gaj table

Nali and bigha: a known conflict

Many websites say 1 bigha = 12 nali. That does not fit the numbers. The Uttarakhand reference bigha is 6,804 sq ft, which is only about 3.15 nali, so 1 nali is about 0.3175 bigha. Twelve nali would be 25,920 sq ft, close to a pucca bigha of the plains (27,225 sq ft), which may explain the rule. One explainer also says a bigha is roughly 12.5 nali in some hill districts. Sources differ, so ask the patwari which bigha your village uses before you convert between bigha and nali.

Nali against other hill units

Himachal Pradesh, next door, uses a bigha of 8,712 sq ft. That is about 4.03 nali. An Uttarakhand biswa of 340.2 sq ft is about 0.1575 nali, or 2.52 mutthi. These links help when a family has papers from both the hills and the plains.

Worked example

A family in a hill village owns 9 nali 8 mutthi and wants to split it between two sons. In mutthi that is 9 x 16 + 8 = 152 mutthi. Each son gets 76 mutthi, which is 4 nali 12 mutthi, or 10,260 sq ft (1,140 gaj). If the khatauni shows hectares, the whole holding is about 0.1906 hectare.

How to convert nali

1. Nali to square feet: multiply by 2,160. Example: 4 nali = 8,640 sq ft.
2. Nali to gaj: multiply by 240. Example: 4 nali = 960 gaj.
3. Nali and mutthi together: change to mutthi first. 2 nali 6 mutthi = 2 x 16 + 6 = 38 mutthi = 5,130 sq ft.
4. Hectare to nali: multiply by 49.8329. Example: 0.5 hectare = 24.92 nali.

A nali can be laid out as a plot of 40 ft by 54 ft, or 36 ft by 60 ft.

See the Uttarakhand guide, the bigha page and acre to square feet.

Practical tips

• Khatauni records on Devbhoomi Bhulekh are kept in the UP style, in hectares. Convert hectares to nali to check a hill plot.
• Hill plots are rarely perfect rectangles. Measure each side and use the land area calculator for uneven shapes.
• For a sale, confirm the area with the patwari or tehsil office and check the khatauni.