pollum

The pollum was a unit of mass used in Indian trade and administration, particularly during the colonial period. It equalled approximately 1 ounce plus 3.25 drams in avoirdupois measure, or about 34 grams in metric terms. Like most pre-standardized weights, it served local commerce where consistent measurement mattered more than mathematical elegance.

The unit appears most frequently in records of spice trade, textile commerce, and precious metal assaying in Indian ports and inland markets. Because different regions maintained different standards, the pollum itself had local variants; what held in Bombay or Calcutta might differ slightly from the pollum of Madras or Bengal. This fragmentation was typical of pre-metrication India, where a merchant moving goods between provinces often encountered revised weight tables.

Displacement and obsolescence

The pollum effectively ceased to exist after India's official adoption of the metric system. The British Raj had already introduced the avoirdupois pound and ounce into Indian administrative practice, but the pollum persisted in bazaars and private transactions until the 20th century. Once weights and measures legislation standardized India's trade, the term vanished from active use. Historical accounts and old commodity contracts are now the only places where the pollum appears.

Metrologists and archivists encounter the pollum when translating or verifying historical trade documents, bills of lading, or assay records predating 1956. Its obscurity in modern practice makes it a footnote in weight history, but understanding such obsolete units remains essential for anyone working with historical commerce data or reconstructing pre-metric supply chains.