The bigha is a traditional unit of measurement of area of a land, commonly used in India, Bangladesh and Nepal. There is no "standard" size of bigha. The size of a bigha varies considerably from place to place. The size of Bigha is different in different areas. Sources have given measurements ranging from, but in several smaller pockets, it can be as high as. Its sub-unit is Biswa or Katha in many regions. Again there is no "standard" size of biswa or katha. A bigha may have 5 to 200 biswa in different regions.
Uses in India
The bigha is a traditional unit of land in several parts of South Asia. Sale and purchase of land is still done unofficially in this unit. However, the area is recorded in hectare or square metres in official land records. Bigha varies in size from one part of India to another. Various states and often regions within the same state have different sizes attributed to the bigha. It is usually less than one standard acre but can extend up to 3 acres.
In Assam, a bigha is, subdivided into 5 katha. Each katha consists of 20 Lessa with a Lessa covering in area. Hence each katha is in area, although this may vary within different regions of Assam. 4 bighas together are further termed as a Pura.
In Bihar, different regions have different sizes of bigha. Near the capital, Patna, one bigha is equivalent to 20 katha. 1 Katha equating to. One katha is further subdivided in 20 dhur. Hence each dhur is approximately. One dhur is further subdivided in 20 dhurki, each dhurki being approximately.
* In some of eastern parts of the Bihar including Munger, Bhagalpur and Jamui, one dhur is further subdivided into one square lagga. One lagga is equivalent to 5.5 hand lengths, with each hand length being. Therefore, one lagga is 99 inches, or 251.46 cm.
In Punjab and Haryana, 4.8 bigha is equal to one acre, each bigha is 4 kanaals, each kanaal is 20 marlas, each marla is 9 square karam, each square karam is 30.25 sq ft, each karam is 5.5 feet. See measurement of land in Punjab.
In central India, bighas were standardized at 3025 yd2 or 5/8 acre.
In Rajasthan, One Pucca Bigha = 27,225 sq ft and one Kaccha Bigha is equal to.
In Uttar Pradesh, one bigha can mean different things to people in different districts of the state. In the western districts of the state one bigha is either equal to five biswa. 6 Biswa ≈1 Bigha
In Uttar Pradesh East one Bigha equals to 20 Biswa and 10 Biswa. This is not use as official but on local scale in field calculation.
In Uttar Pradesh the measurements are slightly different: one Bigha=20 20 biswa=60 Decimal=2428.80 m2
In Uttarakhand, 1 Bigha is subdivided into 20 Bissas or 12 Nali. One Bigha is 756.222 yd2 or 632.2981 m2.
Bigha is a traditional unit of land in entire Bangladesh, with land purchases still being undertaken in this unit. One bigha is equal to 1,600 square yard as standardized in pre-partition Bengal during the British rule. In other words, 3 bigha are just 60.5 katha/360 sq ft short of 1 acre. Measurements of area in terms of bigha
Use in Nepal
A Bigha is a customary unit of measurement in Nepal, equal to about 6,773 square meters. Officially, most measurement of lands use units of either Bigha or Ropani . Metric system is very seldom used officially in measuring area of land. Measurement of area in terms of bigha ;1 Bigha = 6,772.63 m² For the different Ropani system from the one above
