Katha: the eastern cousin of the biswa
Where the north says biswa, the east says katha. Twenty katha usually make a bigha, and just like the biswa, the katha changes size the moment you cross a state line.
In Bihar a katha is commonly taken as 1,361 sq ft, which is about 151 sq. yd., and twenty of them make the local bigha of roughly 27,220 sq ft. In West Bengal the same idea gives a much smaller number: the cottah there is 720 sq ft, or 80 sq. yd., because the Bengal bigha is fixed at 1,600 sq. yd. Assam works close to the Bengal figure, and parts of eastern Uttar Pradesh use their own katha again.
Below the katha sits the dhur, and below that the dhurki. A dhur in Bihar is about 68 sq ft, which is why village land shares can be described in numbers that sound oddly precise.
If you are buying in the east, ask for three things in writing: the katha count, the square feet, and the khatian or record of rights number. The first is how people talk, the second is what you are paying for, and the third is what proves it.
Typically used for: Residential and agricultural land deals across Bihar, Jharkhand, Bengal and Assam.
Where you'll hear it: Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Assam, parts of eastern Uttar Pradesh
Also called: Kattha, cottah in Kolkata usage, and its sub unit dhur
Quick facts
- Bihar katha
- 1,361 sq ft
- West Bengal cottah
- 720 sq ft
- In one bigha
- 20 katha
- Sub unit
- 20 dhur = 1 katha
How katha changes from place to place
The word stays the same, the ground does not. Here is what one katha works out to in the regions where people use it, so you know exactly what you are being quoted.
| Region or usage | Local term | Square feet | Square yards | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bihar | Katha | 1,361 sq ft | 151.22 sq. yd. | About 151 sq. yd. Twenty katha make the Bihar bigha. |
| West Bengal | Cottah / katha | 720 sq ft | 80 sq. yd. | Exactly 80 sq. yd. Kolkata plots are almost always quoted this way. |
| Assam | Katha | 2,880 sq ft | 320 sq. yd. | Five katha make a bigha here, so the katha is far larger than Bengal's. |
| Jharkhand | Katha | 1,361 sq ft | 151.22 sq. yd. | Follows Bihar usage in most districts. |
| Eastern Uttar Pradesh | Katha | 1,361 sq ft | 151.22 sq. yd. | Used alongside biswa depending on the district. |
If a seller quotes you in katha, ask which version they mean before you talk price, then get the same area written in square yards and square feet. That is the figure the sale deed, the registry and any bank valuation will go by.
One Katha in every other unit
Land unit converter
Convert between bigha, biswa, katha, guntha, kanal, marla, cent, acre, hectare, square yards (gaj) and square feet.
What locals would call this area
The same word can mean very different ground depending on where you are standing. Here is your 1,361 sq ft read back in the terms people actually use, state by state.
| Region | Local term | Your area |
|---|---|---|
| Haryana (Gurugram, Sohna, Naugaon) | Bigha | 0.05 bigha |
| Haryana and Punjab | Kanal | 0.25 kanal |
| Haryana and Punjab | Marla | 4.9991 marla |
| Rajasthan (Alwar, Jaipur) | Pucca bigha | 0.05 pucca bigha |
| Rajasthan villages | Kachcha bigha | 0.15 kachcha bigha |
| Western Uttar Pradesh | Bigha | 0.0504 bigha |
| Uttar Pradesh and Haryana | Biswa | 1.0081 biswa |
| Gujarat | Vigha | 0.0781 vigha |
| Gujarat and Maharashtra | Guntha | 1.2498 guntha |
| Madhya Pradesh | Bigha | 0.1134 bigha |
| Bihar and Jharkhand | Katha | 1 katha |
| West Bengal | Cottah (katha) | 1.8903 cottah (katha) |
| Assam | Katha | 0.4726 katha |
| Uttarakhand hills | Bigha | 0.2 bigha |
| Tamil Nadu and Kerala | Cent | 3.1244 cent |
| Chennai | Ground | 0.5671 ground |
| Andhra Pradesh and Telangana | Ankanam | 18.9 ankanam |
| Delhi NCR | Gaj (square yard) | 151.22 gaj (square yard) |
Local values are the ones commonly used in each area. Districts and villages sometimes work with their own figures, so always ask the seller which version they mean and get the area written in square yards on paper.
PaperworkQuestions people ask
Why is one bigha not the same everywhere?+
Because bigha was never standardised. It grew out of local practice, so each region settled on its own size. A pucca bigha in Rajasthan is about 27,225 sq ft, a kachcha bigha in the same state is roughly 9,075 sq ft, Gujarat's vigha is 17,424 sq ft, Madhya Pradesh works with about 12,000 sq ft, and the hill districts of Uttarakhand use a bigha closer to 6,804 sq ft. Always ask which bigha is being quoted, then get the area restated in square yards.
What is the difference between a bigha, a biswa and a katha?+
They are the same idea in different languages. A bigha is the parent unit, and it gets divided into twenty parts. In Haryana and Uttar Pradesh those parts are called biswa, and in Bihar, Jharkhand and Bengal they are called katha. Since the parent bigha varies, so do biswa and katha, which is why a Bihar katha is about 1,361 sq ft while a Bengal cottah is only 720 sq ft.
Which local units are used around Sohna, Naugaon and Alwar?+
On the Haryana side you will hear bigha, biswa, kanal and marla, with kanal and marla appearing in the jamabandi. On the Alwar side of Rajasthan it is mostly pucca and kachcha bigha. Sale deeds through the whole belt are written in square yards, which is the unit we quote in.
How many guntha, kanal, marla or cent make an acre?+
Forty guntha, eight kanal, 160 marla or 100 cent. All four are standardised, so those numbers hold wherever you are. Bigha is the odd one out, and the answer there depends entirely on the state.
Why do land records use hectares when nobody speaks in hectares?+
Revenue departments moved to metric for record keeping, so jamabandi, khasra and khatian extracts carry hectares and ares. Everyday conversation stayed with the traditional units. You need both: hectares to read your papers and square yards to sign your deed.
What is the difference between vigha and bigha?+
The same unit with different spellings. Vigha is the Gujarati form, bigha the North Indian one. A Gujarat vigha is usually taken as 17,424 sq ft, which is not what a Haryana bigha means, so the spelling difference hides a real size difference.
Which unit should I use when comparing two pieces of land?+
Square feet, every time. Convert both offers to a price per square foot and the comparison becomes honest in seconds. Headline prices per bigha or per katha hide too much because the units themselves are not fixed.
How big is a 1,500 sq. yd. farm land in local terms?+
A 1,500 sq. yd. farm land is 13,500 sq ft. That is about 2.5 kanal or 50 marla in Haryana language, roughly 0.5 pucca bigha in Alwar, about 0.77 vigha in Gujarat terms, 12.4 guntha, just under 10 katha in Bihar, 31 cent in the south, or 0.31 acre.
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