Bigha

The bigha or beegah (, बीघा) is a traditional unit of measurement of area of a land, commonly used in northern & eastern India, Bangladesh and Nepal. There is no "standard" size of bigha and it varies considerably from place to place.

Sources have given measurement of Bigha ranging from 6805 ft2 to 72,880 ft2. It's sub-unit is Biswa or Katha in many regions, but it has no "standard" size. A bigha may have 5 to 20 Katha/ biswa in different regions.

Uses in India
The bigha is a traditional unit of land in several parts of North & East India. Sale and purchase of land (particularly agricultural 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 acre (43,560 square feet or 4,046.8 square metre) but can extend up to 3 acres.

In India, Bigha is commonly used in the states of Uttarakhand, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Assam, Gujarat and Rajasthan. However, in Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, Bigha is not in practical measurement unit.

Assam
In Assam, a bigha is 14400 ft2 or 1,600 sq yard. One bigha is divided into 5 Katha. Each Katha consists of 20 Lessa. Hence each Katha is 2880 ft2 in area, although this may vary within different regions of Assam. 4 bighas together are further termed as a Pura.
 * 1 Katha = 2880 ft2 or 320 sq yard
 * 1 Lessa = 144 ft2 or 16 sq yard
 * 1 Acre = 3.025 bigha and 1 Hectare = 7.475 bigha (Assam)

Bihar
In Bihar, different regions have different sizes of bigha. Near the capital, Patna, one bigha is equivalent to 20 katha. 1 Katha equating to 1361.25 ft2. One Katha is further subdivided in 20 dhur. Hence each Dhur is 68.05 ft2. One Dhur is subdivided in 20 dhurki, each Dhurki being 3.403 ft2.
 * One decimal is equal to 435.60 sq feet  or 1/100 acre. One Acre = 43560 ft2 or 4,840 sq. yard.
 * 1 Bigha (बीघा) = 20 Katha (कठ्ठा) = 2,529 m² or 3,025 sq. yard or 27,225 sq. feet
 * 1 Katha (कठ्ठा) = 20 Dhur (धुर) = 126.46 m² or 151.25 sq. yard or 1,361.25 sq. feet
 * 1 Acre = 1.6 Bigha = 100 decimal; and 1 Hectare = 3.95 Bigha (Patna)

Note: 1 Katha in Muzaffarpur is 1901 ft2; and in West Champaran is 3267 ft2.

Himachal Pradesh
In Himachal Pradesh, five bigha is equal to one Acre. Hence, 1 Bigha = 8712 ft2 or 968 square yard. One Hectare is equal to 12.35 bigha.

Punjab
In Punjab and Haryana, 2 bigha is equal to one acre, each bigha is 4 kanals, each kanal is 20 marlas, each marla is 9 square karam, each square karam is 30.25 sq ft (5.5 X 5.5 ft), each karam is 5.5 feet. See measurement of land in Punjab.
 * 1 Killa = 1 Acre = 8 Kanal = 2 bigha (4,047 sq.m. or 4,840 sq. yard)
 * 1 bigha = 4 kanal = 0.5 Killa (2,420 sq. yard) (1 kanal = 605 sq yard)

Madhya Pradesh
In Madhya Pradesh, one Bigha has 20 Katha, where 1 Katha = 600 ft2. Therefore 1 bigha = 12000 ft2.

Rajasthan
In Rajasthan, One Pucca Bigha = 27225 ft2 or 3,025 square yard. A plot of land with each side 165 feet is called as Bigha (165 ft × 165 ft).
 * One Kaccha Bigha = 17424 ft2 or 1,936 square yard.

Uttar Pradesh
In Uttar Pradesh, one bigha can mean different things to people in different districts of the state. One Bigha in UP ranges from 5 biswa to 20 biswa. Here one Biswa is 1361 ft2 or 151.25 square yard.
 * In Western UP, 1 bigha is usually equal to 5 biswa ie 6805 ft2 or 756 sq yard. In some districts it can be 6.67 biswa ie 9077 ft2 or 1,008 square yard.
 * In Eastern UP, 1 bigha is equal to 20 biswa. Hence one Bigha in Purvanchal is 27225 ft2 or 3,025 square yard.

Uttarakhand
In Uttarakhand, 1 Bigha is divided into 20 Bissas or 12 Nali. One Bigha is 632.29 m2 or 756 sq. yard.

West Bengal
In West Bengal, the Bigha was standardized under British colonial rule at 14400 ft2 or 1,600 square yard. This is often interpreted as being 1/3 acre (it is precisely 40⁄121 acre). Therefore, 1 Acre = 3.025 bigha and 1 Hectare = 7.475 bigha in West Bengal.

Uses in Bangladesh
Bigha is a traditional unit of land in entire Bangladesh, with land purchases still being undertaken in this unit. One bigha is equal to 20 Katha (14,400 square feet or 1,600 square yard) as standardized in pre-partition Bengal during the British rule. In other words, 3 bigha are just 0.5 Katha or 360 sq ft short of 1 acre. (One Acre = 4,840 sq yd or 43,560 sq ft or 4,047 sq m).

Measurements of area

 * 1 Katha (কাঠা) = 720 sq ft (80 sq yd or 66.89 sq m)
 * 1 Bigha = 14,400 sq ft (1,337.8 sq m or 1,600 sq yd)
 * 1 Acre (একর) = 3.025 bigha (বিঘা) = 60.5 Katha (কাঠা)
 * 1 Hectare = 7.475 bigha = 149.5 Katha

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 (in Terai region) or Ropani (Nepali: रोपनी) (in Hilly regions). Metric system (SI unit of square metre) is very seldom used officially in measuring area of land.

Measurement of area in terms of bigha
 * 1 Bigha (बिघा)= 20 Katha (कठ्ठा) (about 6,772.63 m² or 72900 sq.ft.)
 * 1 Katha (कठ्ठा) = 20 Dhur (धुर) (about 338.63 m² or 3,645 sq.ft.)
 * 1 Dhur (धुर) = 16.93 m² or 182.25 sq.ft.
 * 1 Kanwa (कनवा) = 1/16 Dhur (धुर)
 * 1 Kanaee (कनई) = 1/16 Kanwa (कनवा)

[Note: Kanwa is largely obsolete and is used only when tiny lands are very precious].
 * 1 Bigha = 13.31 Ropani (रोपनी)
 * 1 Ropani = 16 aana (आना) (about 508.72 m² or 5476 sq. ft.)
 * 1 aana = 4 paisa (पैसा) (about 31.80 m² or 342.25 sq.ft.)
 * 1 paisa = 4 daam (दाम) (7.95 m²)


 * 1 Bigha = 6,772.63 m2
 * 1 Bigha = 0.677263 hectare = 1.6735 acre
 * 1 Hectare = 19.6565 Ropani

In popular culture
The classic Hindi movie Do Bigha Zamin ("Two bighas of land", 1953) by Bimal Roy portrayed the struggle of a poor peasant with very little landholding.