Written and fact-checked by Aadil Saif. Arithmetic independently re-verified · Last updated September 2026
Part of the India Land Unit Converter series.
What this page is built on. Every conversion was computed as an exact fraction from a verified square-foot value for each regional katha, then re-derived against the finished text cell by cell. The regional values themselves come from court records, government glossaries, a CAG audit and a statutory rule, each named where it is used, so you can see which figure rests on what. Two values on this page are derived from areas a court stated in two units at once; they are marked as derived and the arithmetic is shown. Nothing here was taken from another converter.
Ask what a katha is and you will be given a number. There are at least seven correct answers.
A katha is 1,361.25 square feet in Patna, 720 in Kolkata, 2,880 in Assam, 1,742.4 in Chhapra, 1,901.25 in Hajipur and 3,267 in Bettiah. Across that range the largest is 4.54 times the smallest, and all six are in current use, two of them in the same state.
So the useful question is not what is a katha. It is what is a katha a twentieth of.
The katha is not a size. It is a fraction of the local bigha, one twentieth of it, and it inherits whatever value that bigha has.
That rule accounts for every figure above. Patna's bigha is 27,225 sq ft, so its katha is 1,361.25. Bengal's bigha is 14,400, so its cottah is 720. Bettiah's bigha is 65,340, so its katha is 3,267. The katha does not vary independently; it varies as the bigha varies, because it is defined against it.
Two governments say so in as many words. The Bihar Revenue Glossary defines the bigha as "approx. 20 Kattha": a definition with no area in it at all. The Comptroller and Auditor General, auditing Assam, states the ratio in a footnote. Where this page can test the rule against two independently sourced figures, it holds. Where it cannot, the page says which values are predictions rather than findings. The table shows which is which.
There is one documented exception in India, and it is not a rounding error. In Assam's Brahmaputra Valley a bigha is five kathas, not twenty, and the missing factor of twenty reappears one level further down. That exception is set out, with its government source, below.
Three things follow, and this page addresses each:
Start here: the master table.
Find and convert your katha Every verified value · The 1/20 rule and the Assam exception · Which katha is yours? · Patna katha · Bengal cottah · Assam katha
The units around it The chains below the katha · The four units that are not areas · Katha to every other unit · Square Inch, Centimeter, Kilometer, Mile
Where the value comes from What the courts have held · Where the katha is official · Three mistakes
Reference Frequently asked questions · Sources and method
Convert to a specific unit: Acre · Ankanam · Ares · Bigha · Biswa · Biswa Kacha · Cent · Chatak · Decimal · Dhur · Dismil · Gaj · Gajam · Ground · Guntha · Hectare · Kanal · Killa · Lessa · Marla · Murabba · Nali · Perch · Pura · Square Centimeter · Square Feet · Square Inch · Square Karam · Square Kilometer · Square Meter · Square Mile · Square Yard
Every one of the other thirty-two units has a section on this page. Where two units are the same area their table would be identical, so the second section points at the first rather than repeating it.
Every factor is a katha's own size, 1,361.25 square feet, divided by the target unit's. To check any row by hand, take that number, divide, and compare.
Each one comes from a single anchor, the acre at 43,560 square feet, by exact fraction arithmetic. Where a factor recurs, the formula gives the fraction rather than a rounded decimal, because a rounded factor is a wrong instruction rather than an approximate one: the fraction is what has to be carried wherever the arithmetic must close. Every row below is computed on the Bihar state standard of the katha, 1,361.25 square feet. The other definitions, and what each is attested by, are in the regional table on this page; a row read against the wrong one is wrong by the ratio between them.
| Conversion | Formula | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Katha to Acre | Katha × 0.03125 | Exact |
| Katha to Ankanam | Katha × 18.90625 | Exact · Ankanam is regional. This row is the Standard; also 37.8125 |
| Katha to Ares | Katha × 1.264642632 | Exact |
| Katha to Bigha | Katha × 0.05 | Exact · Bigha is regional. This row is the UP pucca / Bihar / Rajasthan pucca; also 0.15, 0.2, 0.078125 and 5 more |
| Katha to Biswa | Katha × 1 | Exact · Biswa is regional. This row is the UP / Rajasthan pucca; also 1.5625, 3, 3.125 |
| Katha to Biswa Kacha | Katha × 3 | Exact · Biswa Kacha is regional. This row is the Punjab / Haryana revenue; also 1.5625 |
| Katha to Cent | Katha × 3.125 | Exact |
| Katha to Chatak | Katha × 30.25 | Exact |
| Katha to Decimal | Katha × 3.125 | Exact |
| Katha to Dhur | Katha × 20 | Exact · Dhur is regional. This row is the Bihar / Jharkhand (Patna chain); also 378.125 |
| Katha to Dismil | Katha × 3.125 | Exact |
| Katha to Gaj | Katha × 151.25 | Exact |
| Katha to Gajam | Katha × 151.25 | Exact |
| Katha to Ground | Katha × 0.5671875 | Exact |
| Katha to Guntha | Katha × 1.25 | Exact |
| Katha to Hectare | Katha × 0.01264642632 | Exact |
| Katha to Kanal | Katha × 0.25 | Exact · Kanal is regional. This row is the Standard (66-inch karam); also 0.3025, 0.329376, 0.373457 |
| Katha to Killa | Katha × 0.03125 | Exact |
| Katha to Lessa | Katha × 9.453125 | Exact |
| Katha to Marla | Katha × 5 | Exact · Marla is regional. This row is the Standard (66-inch karam); also 6.05, 6.587524, 7.469136 and 1 more |
| Katha to Murabba | Katha × 0.00125 | Exact · Murabba is regional. This row is the Punjab canal colony; also 0.002 |
| Katha to Nali | Katha × 121/192 | Recurring |
| Katha to Perch | Katha × 5 | Exact |
| Katha to Pura | Katha × 0.0236328125 | Exact |
| Katha to Square Centimeter | Katha × 1,264,642.632 | Exact |
| Katha to Square Feet | Katha × 1,361.25 | Exact |
| Katha to Square Inch | Katha × 196,020 | Exact |
| Katha to Square Karam | Katha × 45 | Exact · Square Karam is regional. This row is the Standard (66-inch karam); also 54.45, 59.287713, 67.222222 |
| Katha to Square Kilometer | Katha × 0.0001264642632 | Exact |
| Katha to Square Meter | Katha × 126.4642632 | Exact |
| Katha to Square Mile | Katha × 0.000048828125 | Exact |
| Katha to Square Yard | Katha × 151.25 | Exact |
The three you most likely want: 1,361.25 sq ft in Bihar · 720 in West Bengal · 2,880 in Assam. Then read on for your district, because Bihar alone has at least four.
Every value below is traceable to a named source, a court record, a government glossary, a CAG audit or a statutory rule. The sources are listed in Sources and Method, and the two derived figures are explained in What the Courts Have Held.
| Where | Square feet | Square metres | Per acre | Katha per bigha | Sub-unit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Patna and most of Bihar | 1,361.25 | 126.4643 | 32 | 20 | 20 dhur |
| West Bengal · Kolkata (cottah) | 720 | 66.8902 | 60.5 | 20 | 16 chatak |
| Jharkhand, Ranchi and the Bengal-facing districts | 720 | 66.8902 | 60.5 | 20 | 16 chatak |
| Assam, Brahmaputra Valley | 2,880 | 267.5608 | 15.125 | 5 | 20 lessa |
| Chhapra (Saran, Bihar) | 1,742.4 | 161.8743 | 25 | 20 | 20 dhur |
| Hajipur (Vaishali, Bihar) | 1,901.25 | 176.6319 | 22.9112 | 20 | 20 dhur |
| Motihari (East Champaran, Bihar), derived | ~2,858.6 † | 265.5726 | 15.2382 | n/a | 20 dhur |
| Bettiah (West Champaran, Bihar) | 3,267 | 303.5142 | 13.3333 | 20 | 20 dhur |
| Nepal Terai (customary) | 3,645 | 338.6316 | 11.9506 | 20 | 20 dhur |
Read the last two columns together. They are the reason this page exists. Wherever the ratio is 20, the katha is simply the local bigha divided by twenty, and the sub-unit is a further twentieth or sixteenth of that. Assam is the one place where the first number is 5.
Two cautions on this table.
† The Motihari figure is derived, not quoted. It comes from a Patna High Court land schedule that stated one parcel in two units at once; the arithmetic is shown below. The table prints the derived value, 2,858.6, rather than rounding it to 2,880, although its closeness to 2,880 is suggestive, since that is the Assam katha and East Champaran adjoins the Champaran belt whose large bigha this series has separately verified. Treat it as evidence that East Champaran uses a large katha, not as a certified figure.
The Nepal Terai row is marked customary for a reason. Nepal's Land (Survey and Measurement) Act, section 4, requires area to be determined in hectares and square metres, and requires records still held in bigha or ropani to be converted into metric. No Nepali instrument we could reach states that twenty kattha make a bigha. The chain is universally used and internally consistent; it is not, so far as we could establish, statutory. (The Nepal chain is stated elsewhere in this series without that caveat and should carry it.)
This is the structural point the rest of the page rests on.
| Region | Bigha (sq ft) | Katha (sq ft) | Ratio | Is the ratio evidence, or assumed? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Patna and most of Bihar | 27,225 | 1,361.25 | 20 | Observed; Supreme Court states the katha as 1/32 acre; the 27,225 sq ft bigha is separately attested. The ratio falls out of two independent figures |
| West Bengal · Kolkata (cottah) | 14,400 | 720 | 20 | Observed, WBLR Rules put 5 cottahs at 0.0335 ha; a century of Calcutta HC schedules never exceeds 19 cottahs to the bigha |
| Jharkhand, Ranchi and the Bengal-facing districts | 14,400 | 720 | 20 | Observed; Follows the Bengal system; Supreme Court records kathas and chataks at Ranchi |
| Assam, Brahmaputra Valley | 14,400 | 2,880 | 5 | Stated, CAG audit footnote: "5 Katha= 1 Bigha" |
| Chhapra (Saran, Bihar) | 34,848 | 1,742.4 | 20 | Applied, The bigha is attested at 34,848 sq ft. The katha here is that figure divided by twenty, the ratio applied, not observed |
| Hajipur (Vaishali, Bihar) | 38,025 | 1,901.25 | 20 | Applied; The bigha is attested at 38,025 sq ft (195 ft square). The katha is derived from it |
| Bettiah (West Champaran, Bihar) | 65,340 | 3,267 | 20 | Applied; The bigha is attested at 65,340 sq ft. The katha is derived from it |
| Nepal Terai (customary) | 72,900 | 3,645 | 20 | Applied; The 72,900 sq ft bigha is customary; so is the chain. No Nepali instrument states the ratio |
Read the last column before the others. It is the difference between what this page can show and what it is inferring.
In four of these the ratio is evidence. For Patna, two independently sourced figures (the Supreme Court's 1/32 acre and the separately attested 27,225 sq ft bigha) happen to stand in a ratio of twenty. For Bengal, the cottah is pinned near 720 by a statutory rule and by a century of court schedules that never once record twenty cottahs to a bigha. For Assam the CAG simply states it. Those four are observations.
In the other four the ratio is an assumption doing work. The Chhapra, Hajipur, Bettiah and Nepal bighas are attested; their kathas are not. The figures in this table are those bighas divided by twenty. They are what the rule predicts, and this page publishes them as predictions rather than as findings.
That distinction matters more than it might look. A table showing seven regions all obeying one rule would be strong evidence for the rule, but only if the seven were independent, and four of them are not. The honest claim is narrower: where both ends of the chain have been sourced independently, the ratio holds in every case we could test, and it is stated outright by two governments. The remaining values follow from it, and would need their own sources to become evidence for it.
The Bihar Revenue Glossary, published on the state's own land-records portal, puts it in exactly those terms. Its entry for the bigha reads simply "Large land unit, approx. 20 Kattha": a definition by ratio, with no area at all. Its entry for the katha then concedes the consequence: "Traditional land measurement unit in Bihar, approx. 1361 sq ft in Patna and around but its measurement in square feet varies from region to region in Bihar."
A state government describing its own unit as a ratio in one entry and admitting it has no fixed size in the next is about as clear a statement of the position as exists.
In Assam's Brahmaputra Valley a bigha is five kathas. Not twenty.
This is not folklore. It is stated in a footnote to a Comptroller and Auditor General audit report. The CAG's Audit Report on Revenue Sector for the year ended 31 March 2022 for Assam, in a paragraph about undervaluation of sale deeds. Footnote 188 reads, in full:
"5 Katha= 1 Bigha, 1 Katha= 20 Lessa, 1 Lessa= 4 Pawa."
Three ratios in eleven words, from a Government of India audit body.
Set the two chains side by side and the exception stops looking arbitrary.
| System | The chain | In square feet |
|---|---|---|
| Bihar | 1 bigha = 20 katha = 400 dhur = 8,000 dhurki | 27,225 → 1,361.25 → 68.0625 → 3.403125 |
| Bengal | 1 bigha = 20 katha (cottah) = 320 chatak | 14,400 → 720 → 45 |
| Assam (Brahmaputra Valley) | 1 bigha = 5 katha = 100 lessa = 400 pawa | 14,400 → 2,880 → 144 → 36 |
Bihar puts its factor of twenty between the bigha and the katha, and again between the katha and the dhur. Assam skips the first twenty and applies it between the katha and the lessa instead. The result is that both systems arrive at a bigha of 400 small units (400 dhur in Bihar, 400 pawa in Assam) by different routes.
Assam's chain also has a physical origin that the others do not. The Assam Land Records Manual, Rule 117, directs the recorder to "measure the four sides with a mauzadari jar of 12 feet." A twelve-foot rod squared is 144 square feet, exactly one lessa. The pawa, at 36 square feet, is a six-foot square: half the rod, squared. The Assam chain is built out of the measuring rod itself. (That the lessa is the square of the rod is our inference; the twelve-foot rod is quoted from the Manual.)
Rule 42 of the same Manual has recorders carry a celluloid square "showing katha squares", the katha used directly as a mapping unit, which no other state in this series does.
Assam is not uniform either. In the Barak Valley (Cachar, Karimganj, Hailakandi, historically Sylhet revenue territory) the katha is subdivided into chataks, on the Bengal pattern, not into lessas.
The Supreme Court recorded it directly in Bibekananda Bhowal v. Satindra Mohan Deb (1996), describing "3 Kathas 9 Chataks of land situated in a commercial ares of Silchar in District Cachar."
So "the Assam katha is twenty lessa" is true of the Brahmaputra Valley and not of the whole state. Which valley the land is in decides which chain applies.
1 katha = 1,361.25 square feet = 126.4643 square metres = 3.125 decimals = exactly 1/32 of an acre.
This is the katha of Patna and most of Bihar, and it is the one value in this page's whole range that a court has stated outright. The Supreme Court, in 1976, described compensation "per katha (1/32 of an acre)". See What the Courts Have Held.
The 1/32 relationship is worth holding onto because it makes the decimal conversion clean: one katha is exactly 3.125 decimals, and thirty-two kathas make an acre. Bihar's records are kept in decimals, so this is the conversion a Bihari landholder actually needs.
| Patna kathas | Square feet | Square yards | Square metres | Decimals | Acres |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1,361.25 | 151.25 | 126.4643 | 3.125 | 0.03125 |
| 2 | 2,722.5 | 302.5 | 252.9285 | 6.25 | 0.0625 |
| 3 | 4,083.75 | 453.75 | 379.3928 | 9.375 | 0.09375 |
| 5 | 6,806.25 | 756.25 | 632.3213 | 15.625 | 0.15625 |
| 10 | 13,612.5 | 1,512.5 | 1,264.6426 | 31.25 | 0.3125 |
| 20 | 27,225 | 3,025 | 2,529.2853 | 62.5 | 0.625 |
| 50 | 68,062.5 | 7,562.5 | 6,323.2132 | 156.25 | 1.5625 |
| 100 | 136,125 | 15,125 | 12,646.4263 | 312.5 | 3.125 |
Kathas × 1,361.25 = square feet > Kathas × 3.125 = decimals > Kathas ÷ 32 = acres > Decimals ÷ 3.125 = kathas
Going the other way. Bihar records are in decimals, so this is the conversion most often needed in reverse. Divide decimals by 3.125. A plot of 10 decimals is 3.2 kathas; 25 decimals is 8 kathas; one acre, 100 decimals, is 32 kathas exactly. Because the divisor is exact, a decimal figure ending in 5 or 25 always gives a clean katha figure.
Worked example. A Patna land schedule reads 2 katha 12 dhur. Twelve dhur is 12/20 = 0.6 katha, so the parcel is 2.6 katha. In square feet: 2.6 × 1,361.25 = 3,539.25. In decimals: 2.6 × 3.125 = 8.125. In acres: 2.6 ÷ 32 = 0.08125. Every figure terminates, because 1,361.25 and 3.125 are both exact.
1 cottah = 720 square feet = 80 square yards = 66.8902 square metres.
This is the unit Kolkata property is quoted in, and it applies across West Bengal and in the Bengal-facing districts of Jharkhand including Ranchi. It is a twentieth of the 14,400 sq ft Bengal bigha and is itself sixteen chataks.
80 square yards exactly is the easiest way to remember it. The cottah is one of the few units in this series that is a whole number of square yards.
| Bengal cottahs | Square feet | Square yards | Square metres | Decimals | Acres |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 720 | 80 | 66.8902 | 1.6529 | 0.016529 |
| 2 | 1,440 | 160 | 133.7804 | 3.3058 | 0.033058 |
| 3 | 2,160 | 240 | 200.6706 | 4.9587 | 0.049587 |
| 5 | 3,600 | 400 | 334.4509 | 8.2645 | 0.082645 |
| 10 | 7,200 | 800 | 668.9019 | 16.5289 | 0.165289 |
| 20 | 14,400 | 1,600 | 1,337.8038 | 33.0579 | 0.330579 |
| 50 | 36,000 | 4,000 | 3,344.5094 | 82.6446 | 0.826446 |
| 100 | 72,000 | 8,000 | 6,689.0189 | 165.2893 | 1.652893 |
Cottahs × 720 = square feet > Cottahs × 80 = square yards > Cottahs ÷ 60.5 = acres
Going the other way. From square feet, divide by 720. The figures a Kolkata buyer meets most often: 1,440 sq ft = 2 cottah · 2,160 = 3 · 3,600 = 5 · 7,200 = 10 · 14,400 = 20 cottah, which is one bigha. From decimals, multiply by 0.605. A cottah is 1.6529 decimals, so ten decimals is just over six cottahs.
Worked example. A Kolkata plot advertised at 3 cottah 8 chatak is 3 + 8/16 = 3.5 cottah. That is 3.5 × 720 = 2,520 square feet, 280 square yards, or 234.1 square metres. In acres, 3.5 ÷ 60.5 = 0.05785 acre, which is 5.785 decimals.
1 katha = 2,880 square feet = 320 square yards = 267.5608 square metres, in the Brahmaputra Valley.
It is a fifth of the 14,400 sq ft Assam bigha, and twenty lessas. At 15.125 to the acre it is the largest katha in India outside the Champaran districts, four times the Bengal cottah, which matters because both are called katha in their own languages and both sit in the same corner of the country.
| Assam kathas | Square feet | Square yards | Square metres | Decimals | Acres |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2,880 | 320 | 267.5608 | 6.6116 | 0.066116 |
| 2 | 5,760 | 640 | 535.1215 | 13.2231 | 0.132231 |
| 3 | 8,640 | 960 | 802.6823 | 19.8347 | 0.198347 |
| 5 | 14,400 | 1,600 | 1,337.8038 | 33.0579 | 0.330579 |
| 10 | 28,800 | 3,200 | 2,675.6076 | 66.1157 | 0.661157 |
| 20 | 57,600 | 6,400 | 5,351.2151 | 132.2314 | 1.322314 |
| 50 | 144,000 | 16,000 | 13,378.0378 | 330.5785 | 3.305785 |
| 100 | 288,000 | 32,000 | 26,756.0755 | 661.157 | 6.61157 |
Kathas × 2,880 = square feet > Kathas × 320 = square yards > Kathas × 5 = bighas ⟵ note the direction: five kathas make a bigha
Going the other way. From square feet, divide by 2,880. From bighas, multiply by five, not twenty, the commonest error on this unit and the one the three checks above are designed to catch. One acre is 15.125 kathas, which is not a round figure in either direction; the Assam katha and the acre do not meet cleanly anywhere.
Worked example. A Gauhati High Court record of 1 Bigha 1 Katha 7 Lessas works out as 1 bigha (5 katha) + 1 katha + 7/20 katha = 6.35 katha. That is 6.35 × 2,880 = 18,288 square feet, or 0.4198 acre. Read the same figure on the Bihar chain, 20 kathas to the bigha, and you would get 21.35 katha and an answer nearly three and a half times too large.
Every region subdivides the katha, and none of them uses the same unit. These are not alternative names for one thing. They are different sizes, and a figure carried from one chain into another is simply wrong.
| Sub-unit | Where | Square feet | Square metres | Per acre | Exact? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dhur | Bihar, Jharkhand | 68.0625 | 6.323213 | 640 | Exact |
| Dhurki (kala) | Bihar | 3.403125 | 0.316161 | 12,800 | Exact |
| Chatak | West Bengal, Jharkhand, Barak Valley | 45 | 4.180637 | 968 | Exact |
| Lessa | Assam (Brahmaputra Valley) | 144 | 13.378038 | 302.5 | Exact |
| Pawa | Assam (Brahmaputra Valley) | 36 | 3.344509 | 1,210 | Exact |
Every one of these is exact in square metres, because each is a whole number or simple fraction of a square foot and a square foot is exactly 0.09290304 m².
Three things about this table are worth noticing.
The dhur and the chatak are not close. A Bihar dhur is 68.0625 sq ft; a Bengal chatak is 45. They sit at the same level of their respective chains and differ by half again.
The dhur is the most dangerous word in this table. It is 68.0625 sq ft in Bihar, 182.25 in the Nepal Terai, and 3.6 in Tripura, a fiftyfold range. The Bigha page covers it in full.
The pawa is new to this series. At 36 square feet it is the smallest named land unit we have verified anywhere in India, and it comes from the CAG audit footnote quoted above. There are 1,210 to the acre.
One cross-chain identity is worth recording because it recurs across this series: a Bihar dhur is 68.0625 sq ft, which is exactly the Uttar Pradesh biswansi and exactly one-sixteenth of a guntha, three units, three regions, one value, 640 to the acre.
The table tells you what each regional katha is worth. It cannot tell you which one applies to your land. You may not know which system your district follows, and "Bihar" is not one system.
These three checks all run on a document you already have.
1. Does the record state a bigha as well? If it does, divide. A record showing both "2 bigha 8 katha" and a total area settles the ratio for you: work out how many kathas the bigha contains and you have identified the system without needing this page at all.
2. Which sub-unit appears? This is the fastest test, and it works even when no bigha is stated.
| If the record uses | The system is | Your katha is |
|---|---|---|
| dhur (or dhurki / kala) | Bihar | 1,361.25 sq ft in Patna; but confirm the district, because Bihar's varies |
| chatak | Bengal; West Bengal, Ranchi-side Jharkhand, or Assam's Barak Valley | 720 sq ft |
| lessa (or pawa) | Assam, Brahmaputra Valley | 2,880 sq ft |
The sub-unit is a more reliable signal than the state, because it travels with the revenue tradition rather than the modern border. That is why a Cachar record showing chataks is on the Bengal chain despite being in Assam.
3. Does any katha figure in the record reach 20? It cannot, on a twenty-katha bigha, the same way a clock never shows 61 minutes. A schedule reading "1 bigha 14 katha" is consistent; one reading "1 bigha 24 katha" is not, and means either the figure is wrong or the system is not the one you assumed. In Assam the same test applies at five, so a katha figure of 5 or more rules out the Brahmaputra Valley chain.
This last check is worth running on any schedule before you convert it. It costs nothing and it catches the error this page exists to prevent.
Search for the units below the katha and you will find chains ending ganda, kara, kranti, til. Those four are real Bengali units in daily use in land records. They do not measure area.
They measure a share: the fraction of a holding that a person owns. In a Bengali khatian the whole plot is always taken as sixteen ana, whatever its size, and the ana is subdivided:
| 1 whole holding | = 16 ana |
| 1 ana | = 20 ganda |
| 1 ganda | = 4 kara |
| 1 kara | = 3 kranti |
| 1 kranti | = 20 til |
So "2 ana 10 ganda" is not an area. It is a fraction: 2.5/16 of whatever the plot happens to be. The whole point of the system is that it is independent of size: a sixteen-ana share of two cottahs and a sixteen-ana share of two bighas are both the entire plot.
This is why the ana chain looks like an area chain and is not. It has the same base-20 rhythm as the Bihar dhur chain, it appears in the same documents, and it is written the same way. But a katha is a size and an ana is a proportion, and multiplying one by the other is meaningless.
The same four words do appear as genuine area units, in the kani system of Chittagong and Noakhali, where 1 kani = 20 ganda and the chain continues through shotok, kara, kont and til. That is a different system in a different place, and it is not the katha chain.
The square foot. Bengali land records end the named chain at the chatak and express the remainder directly in square feet. A century of Calcutta High Court judgments reads that way: "5 bighas 1 cottah 14 chataks and 32 sq. ft.", "1 bigha 15 cottahs 3 chataks and 25 sq. ft", "4 bigha 6 cottah 9 chatak 15 square feet".
In every one of those, and in every other Bengal record we examined, the cottah figure never reaches 20 and the chatak figure never reaches 16, which is the ratio confirming itself across a hundred years of decided cases.
One thing worth knowing before the tables. The Bihar katha and the Uttar Pradesh pucca biswa are the same area (1,361.25 square feet), because both are one twentieth of a 27,225 square foot bigha. Two states took one subdivision and gave it two names, so a reader crossing the Bihar–Uttar Pradesh border meets the same quantity under a different word. The biswa approaches it from the other side.
The three main kathas against every other unit in this series. Read down the column that matches your region.
| Unit | Patna katha (1,361.25 sq ft) | Bengal cottah (720) | Assam katha (2,880) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Bigha, UP pucca / Patna | 20 | 37.8125 | 9.4531 |
| 1 Bigha, West Bengal / Assam | 10.5785 | 20 | 5 |
| 1 Biswa, Uttar Pradesh | 1 | 1.8906 | 0.4727 |
| 1 Guntha | 0.8 | 1.5125 | 0.3781 |
| 1 Cent = Decimal = Dismil | 0.32 | 0.605 | 0.1513 |
| 1 Ground (Tamil Nadu) | 1.7631 | 3.3333 | 0.8333 |
| 1 Ankanam (coastal Andhra) | 0.0529 | 0.1 | 0.025 |
| 1 Marla (66-in) | 0.2 | 0.3781 | 0.0945 |
| 1 Kanal (66-in) | 4 | 7.5625 | 1.8906 |
| 1 Nali (Uttarakhand) | 1.5868 | 3 | 0.75 |
| 1 Are | 0.7907 | 1.495 | 0.3737 |
| 1 Hectare | 79.0737 | 149.4988 | 37.3747 |
| 1 Acre | 32 | 60.5 | 15.125 |
Regional definitions of the bigha, biswa and the karam-derived units are on the Indian Land Units by State hub and are not repeated here.
Arithmetic only.
| Unit | 1 Patna katha | 1 Bengal cottah | 1 Assam katha |
|---|---|---|---|
| Square inch | 196,020 | 103,680 | 414,720 |
| Square centimetre | 1,264,642.63 | 668,901.89 | 2,675,607.55 |
| Square kilometre | 0.0001264643 | 0.0000668902 | 0.0002675608 |
| Square mile | 0.0000488281 | 0.0000258264 | 0.0001033058 |
The katha's values are not published in a schedule anywhere. Where they can be pinned down, it is usually because a court recorded the same parcel in two units at once, and the ratio falls out of the arithmetic.
| Court and case | What it records | Katha implied |
|---|---|---|
| Supreme Court, Thakur Kamta Prasad Singh v. State of Bihar (1976), Shahbad district | "Rs. 800/- per katha (1/32 of an acre)" | 1,361.25 sq ft |
| Patna High Court, CWJC 5379/2022, order of 7 July 2025, Barh, Patna | "3.9062 Decimal i.e. 1 katha 5 dhurs" | 1,361.23 sq ft |
| Patna High Court, CWJC 13408/2026, Motihari, East Champaran | "21 Decimal (3 Katha 4 Dhur)" | 2,858.6 sq ft |
| Patna High Court, Bhikhari Rai v. Chuni Lal Rai (2018), district not stated | "12 Katha 2 dhurs (57 decimals)" | 2,052 sq ft |
In Thakur Kamta Prasad Singh (dead) by LRs v. The State of Bihar, decided 10 March 1976 over land in Shahbad district, the Court described enhanced compensation as "Rs. 800/- per katha (1/32 of an acre)."
One thirty-second of an acre is 43,560 ÷ 32 = 1,361.25 square feet exactly, the figure this page uses for Patna, stated by the Supreme Court in a parenthesis.
Two other passages in the same judgment confirm the chain without meaning to. The Court records a sale of ".06 acre" at "Rs. 52 per katha": 0.06 acre is 1.92 kathas at 1/32 each, and ₹100 ÷ 1.92 = ₹52.08, matching. And it records "five dhurs" sold for ₹275 at "Rs. 1,100 per katha": ₹275 ÷ ₹1,100 = 0.25 katha for five dhurs, so twenty dhurs make a katha. The judgment was not trying to define the unit. Its arithmetic defines it anyway.
An order of 7 July 2025 in CWJC 5379/2022 describes land at Barh in Patna district as "3.9062 Decimal ... i.e. 1 katha 5 dhurs."
One katha five dhur is 1.25 kathas. 3.9062 ÷ 1.25 = 3.125 decimals per katha, which is 1/32 of an acre, the same value, forty-nine years later. (The court's 3.9062 is itself a rounded decimal, so the back-calculation lands at 1,361.23 rather than 1,361.25. The two-hundredths of a square foot is the rounding, not a difference.)
The same method applied to other Patna High Court records produces different answers, which is the clearest available proof of the Revenue Glossary's admission that the katha "varies from region to region in Bihar."
A land schedule in CWJC 13408/2026 describes a parcel at Chota Bariyapur, Motihari circle, East Champaran as "21 Decimal (3 Katha 4 Dhur)." Three katha four dhur is 3.2 kathas; 21 ÷ 3.2 = 6.5625 decimals = 2,858.6 square feet per katha. That is within three-quarters of a percent of 2,880, and East Champaran adjoins the Champaran belt whose bigha this series has separately verified as large.
Bhikhari Rai v. Chuni Lal Rai (2018) records "12 Katha 2 dhurs (57 decimals)", 12.1 kathas, giving 4.711 decimals or 2,052 square feet per katha. The judgment does not state the district, so this figure locates a katha without locating its place.
Both are derived, not quoted. A court stating an area in two units is stating an area, not defining a unit, and land schedules round. Treat these as evidence that Bihar's katha varies and as an indication of magnitude, not as certified values.
A Jharkhand High Court order of 2017 concerning land at Sarath in Deoghar, in Santhal Pargana, refers to "7 Kathas comprising 15 decimals." That works out at 933 square feet per katha, against the 720 this page gives for Jharkhand.
Santhal Pargana has its own tenancy law and its own survey history, so a local katha there is entirely plausible. But "comprising" may be loose drafting rather than an equation, and one order is not a value. We are not publishing a Santhal Pargana katha. If you hold land there, read the khatian rather than this page.
The katha is the unit Indians transact in across three states and the unit almost no Indian land record is written in. Both halves of that are documented.
This is the strongest official statement of a katha's size anywhere in India.
Rule 20A(3) of the West Bengal Land Reforms Rules, 1965, governing settlement of state land for homestead purposes, provides that the area settled "shall not exceed five cottahs or 0.0335 hectare." The wording was substituted by Notification No. 416-L-Ref. of 13 June 1988, published in the Calcutta Gazette on 15 July 1988.
The State has therefore equated five cottahs to a metric figure. Work it back:
| Square metres | Square feet | |
|---|---|---|
| Five cottahs, as the Rule states them | 335 | 3,605.91 |
| One cottah, from the Rule | 67 | 721.182 |
| One cottah, conventional | 66.8902 | 720 |
| Difference | 0.1098 | 1.182 |
The Rule implies a cottah of 721.18 square feet against the conventional 720, a difference of 1.18 square feet, or 0.16%. That is a rounding in the Rule, not a different unit: 0.0335 hectare is itself two significant figures.
What matters is that a state government has committed the cottah to a metric equivalent in subordinate legislation. The Rule does not say "720 square feet", and this page does not claim it does, but it puts the cottah within a fifth of a percent of it, in a statutory instrument.
The Bihar Revenue Glossary, on the state's Bihar Bhumi portal, defines the whole chain, bigha as "approx. 20 Kattha", dhur as "Sub-unit of Kattha (1/20th)", and "20 Kala/Dhurki = 1 Dhur", while conceding that the katha's size "varies from region to region in Bihar."
Yet the Bihar Land Mutation Rules, 2012 prescribe no unit at all. Form II, the Jamabandi Register, carries a column headed simply "Area", and nothing in the Rules says what it should be filled in with.
That gap is the mechanism. A record system that does not specify its unit lets a district-varying katha survive indefinitely, because nothing in the rules ever forces a choice. Meanwhile the Record of Rights itself, as described in the Department of Land Resources' evaluation of Bihar's land records, carries "Rakba (Area of land parcel in acres, decimal and hectares)", three units, none of them the katha.
So in Bihar: the katha is the unit of the deed and the courtroom, and the decimal is the unit of the record.
The Assam Land and Revenue Regulation, 1886, the state's principal revenue law, defines no area unit at all. No bigha, no katha, no lessa, no conversion.
The 5-katha bigha is documented instead in the CAG footnote quoted above, and in the Assam Land Records Manual's working rules. A Government of India audit body and a departmental manual, not the Regulation.
Nepal is the clearest case of the split this page keeps describing.
Section 4 of Nepal's Land (Survey and Measurement) Act requires that "the area shall be determined at the rate of Ten Thousand square meters equal to one hectare", and requires the Land Revenue Office to convert records held "in Bigaha or Ropani" into hectares and square metres. The Act defines neither the bigha nor the kattha and states no ratio between them.
But Rule 23(1) of Nepal's Land Rules sets permitted sale limits in the unit people actually use: "Maximum up to two Kattha in the city area under terai region and maximum up to ten Kattha in case of the land of other area", with the hill regions expressed in ana and ropani.
One statute converts the kattha away; a rule under it sets a limit in kattha. The unit survives in the regulation of transactions while being legislated out of the record, which is, in one country, the whole pattern this page describes.
The single commonest error, and the most expensive. A katha is 720 square feet in Kolkata and 3,267 in Bettiah, 4.54 times larger. Within Bihar alone the documented range runs from 1,361.25 to about 2,880.
| A parcel described as "5 katha" is | Square feet | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| in Kolkata | 3,600 | 0.0826 |
| in Patna | 6,806.25 | 0.1563 |
| in Chhapra | 8,712 | 0.2 |
| in Assam's Brahmaputra Valley | 14,400 | 0.3306 |
| in Bettiah | 16,335 | 0.375 |
The check: if a figure has no district attached, it has no value attached. Ask which one before converting.
Twenty kathas to the bigha holds everywhere in this page's range except Assam's Brahmaputra Valley, where it is five.
A Gauhati record of 2 bigha 3 katha is 2 × 5 + 3 = 13 kathas = 37,440 sq ft. Read on the Bihar chain it becomes 43 kathas, and if you then use the Bihar katha as well you get 58,534 sq ft, 56% too large, from two independent errors compounding.
And the exception has an exception: the Barak Valley uses chatak, not lessa, on the Bengal pattern. Cachar, Karimganj and Hailakandi do not follow the Brahmaputra Valley chain.
They are shares, not sizes. A holding is always sixteen ana whatever its area. "4 ana" means a quarter of the plot, a quarter of two cottahs or a quarter of two bighas, depending entirely on the plot.
Multiplying an ana figure by a square-foot value produces a number with no meaning. See The Four Units That Are Not Areas.
Eight questions the page has not already answered.
It depends on where the land is, and the honest answer is a table rather than a number. 1,361.25 sq ft in Patna and most of Bihar; 720 in West Bengal, Kolkata and the Ranchi side of Jharkhand; 2,880 in Assam's Brahmaputra Valley; 1,742.4 in Chhapra; 1,901.25 in Hajipur; 3,267 in Bettiah. The full table is here.
Any page that answers this with one number has guessed which region you are in.
Twenty, everywhere in this page's range except Assam's Brahmaputra Valley, where it is five. That ratio is the katha's actual definition. The square-foot value simply follows from whatever the local bigha is.
32 in Patna, 60.5 in Bengal, 15.125 in Assam, 25 in Chhapra, 13⅓ in Bettiah. The Patna figure is the clean one: a Patna katha is exactly 1/32 of an acre, which the Supreme Court stated in 1976.
3.125 decimals in Patna, exactly, because a katha there is 1/32 acre and a decimal is 1/100 acre. In Bengal a cottah is 1.6529 decimals; in Assam a katha is 6.6116 decimals.
This is the conversion Bihar and Bengal landholders need most often, because both states keep their records in decimals while transacting in kathas.
Yes: cottah is the anglicised Bengali spelling, used in Kolkata property and in Calcutta High Court records. It is 720 square feet, twenty to the bigha, sixteen chataks. The West Bengal Land Reforms Rules use the spelling cottah and put five of them at 0.0335 hectare.
Because it is a fifth of its bigha rather than a twentieth, and the Assam bigha (14,400 sq ft) is the same size as Bengal's. Same bigha, different divisor, four times the katha. The factor of twenty that Bihar and Bengal put between bigha and katha, Assam puts between katha and lessa instead.
The smallest named land unit we have verified anywhere in India: 36 square feet, a six-foot square, with 1,210 to the acre. Four pawa make a lessa, twenty lessa a katha, five katha a bigha, in Assam's Brahmaputra Valley. The chain comes from a CAG audit footnote.
The deed can describe the land in kathas, Indian courts read such schedules constantly, and this page quotes several. What goes into the record is another unit. Bihar's Record of Rights uses acres, decimals and hectares; West Bengal's uses acres and decimals; Assam's uses bigha-katha-lessa. Convert from the figure on your own record, and note which unit that record is in before you do.
This page is unusual in the series because its unit has no single value, so the arithmetic rests on a set of regional anchors rather than one.
| The fixed points | 1 acre = 43,560 sq ft · 1 foot = 0.3048 m exactly |
| Each regional katha | a verified square-foot value, sourced individually below |
| Everything else | derived from those as exact fractions, rounded once at display |
Every table was read back out of the finished page and each cell recomputed to its displayed precision. Prose figures were re-derived from the anchors rather than copied from the tables. 360 table cells and 109 prose figures checked. Errors at delivery: 0.
Two values on this page are derived rather than quoted, and both are marked where they appear: the Motihari katha (≈2,858.6 sq ft) and the unlocated Bihar katha (≈2,052 sq ft), each computed from a Patna High Court land schedule that stated the same parcel in two units. A court stating an area is not defining a unit, and land schedules round. They are published as evidence of variation, not as certified figures.
Judgments
Government instruments and publications
A Bangladeshi Ministry of Land standard-units page we could not open; a second source for the Deoghar katha; and any government instrument stating the sixteen-chatak katha. If you have one, or if any figure or reading here is wrong, tell us.
| Conversion | 1 Katha | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Acre | 0.03125 | Exact; Exact by definition: 43,560 sq ft = 4,840 sq yd |
| Ankanam | 18.90625 (Standard) | Region-specific; also 37.8125 (Tirupati) |
| Ares | 1.264642632 | Exact; 100 m², the metric are |
| Bigha | 0.05 (UP pucca / Bihar / Rajasthan pucca) | Region-specific; also 0.15 (UP kachha (6⅔ biswa)) · 0.2 (UP kachha (5 biswa) / Uttarakhand hills) · 0.078125 (Rajasthan kachha / Gujarat vigha / Uttarakhand Terai) |
| Biswa | 1 (UP / Rajasthan pucca) | Region-specific; also 1.5625 (Rajasthan kachha) · 3 (Punjab / Haryana old records) · 3.125 (Himachal Pradesh) |
| Biswa Kacha | 3 (Punjab / Haryana revenue definition) | Region-specific; also 1.5625 (Rajasthan kachha reading) |
| Cent | 3.125 | Exact; One hundredth of an acre, exactly |
| Chatak | 30.25 | Exact; 5 sq yd exactly; 16 to the cottah, 968 to the acre. Reported, not stated by any instrument located |
| Decimal | 3.125 | Exact; One hundredth of an acre, exactly |
| Dhur | 20 (Bihar / Jharkhand (Patna chain)) | Region-specific; also 378.125 (Tripura) |
| Dismil | 3.125 | Exact; The decimal under another name |
| Gaj | 151.25 | Exact; The square yard, 9 sq ft |
| Gajam | 151.25 | Exact; The square yard in Telugu, 9 sq ft |
| Ground | 0.5671875 | Exact; Tamil Nadu Urban Land Tax Act 1966, s.2(8-A): "an area comprising two hundred and twenty three square metres (two thousand and four hundred square feet)" |
| Guntha | 1.25 | Exact; 121 sq yd; 40 guntha = 1 acre exactly |
| Hectare | 0.01264642632 | Exact; 10,000 m² exactly |
| Kanal | 0.25 (Standard (66-inch karam)) | Region-specific; also 0.3025 (Majha belt (60-inch karam)) · 0.329376 (Doaba belt (57.5-inch karam)) · 0.373457 (Kapurthala belt (54-inch karam)) |
| Killa | 0.03125 | Exact; The acre under its Punjabi name |
| Lessa | 9.453125 | Exact; The 12-foot mauzadari jar squared (Assam Land Records Manual r.117); 20 to a katha, 100 to a bigha |
| Marla | 5 (Standard (66-inch karam)) | Region-specific; also 6.05 (Majha belt (60-inch karam)) · 6.587524 (Doaba belt (57.5-inch karam)) · 7.469136 (Kapurthala belt (54-inch karam)) |
| Murabba | 0.00125 (Punjab canal colony) | Region-specific; also 0.002 (Rajasthan (Indira Gandhi Canal)) |
| Nali | 0.630208 | Recurring; 240 sq yd; 16 mutthi of 135 sq ft. No instrument located states the figure |
| Perch | 5 | Exact; 30.25 sq yd; 160 perches = 1 acre |
| Pura | 0.0236328125 | Exact; 4 Assam bigha of 14,400 sq ft. The 4:1 ratio is SOURCED -- the Supreme Court states it in 1961 and 1971 and the Gauhati High Court in 1986, 2023, 2024 and 2026 -- but no instrument, judgment or manual states the square-foot figure, which is derived from the Assam bigha |
| Square Centimeter | 1,264,642.632 | Exact; One ten-thousandth of a square metre |
| Square Feet | 1,361.25 | Exact; The base of this series |
| Square Inch | 196,020 | Exact; One 144th of a square foot |
| Square Karam | 45 (Standard (66-inch karam)) | Region-specific; also 54.45 (Majha belt (60-inch karam)) · 59.287713 (Doaba belt (57.5-inch karam)) · 67.222222 (Kapurthala belt (54-inch karam)) |
| Square Kilometer | 0.0001264642632 | Exact; 1,000,000 m² |
| Square Meter | 126.4642632 | Exact; The SI unit of area |
| Square Mile | 0.000048828125 | Exact; Standards of Weights and Measures Act 1976, Schedule (see s.79): "1 square mile = 2 589 988.110 336 square metres"; 640 acres exactly |
| Square Yard | 151.25 | Exact; 9 sq ft exactly |
1 katha = 0.03125 acres, exact. An acre is exact by definition: 43,560 sq ft = 4,840 sq yd.
Computed on the Bihar state standard katha of 1,361.25 square feet, one of 6 definitions this series carries for this unit.
Acre = Katha × 0.03125
| Katha | Acre |
|---|---|
| 1 | 0.03125 |
| 2 | 0.0625 |
| 3 | 0.09375 |
| 5 | 0.15625 |
| 10 | 0.3125 |
| 20 | 0.625 |
| 50 | 1.5625 |
| 100 | 3.125 |
| 200 | 6.25 |
| 500 | 15.625 |
| 1,000 | 31.25 |
5 katha × 0.03125 = 0.15625 acres
Katha = Acre × 32
1 katha = 0.05 bigha on the UP pucca / Bihar / Rajasthan pucca definition. The bigha has no single national value. It is also 0.15 (UP kachha (6⅔ biswa)) · 0.2 (UP kachha (5 biswa) / Uttarakhand hills) · 0.078125 (Rajasthan kachha / Gujarat vigha / Uttarakhand Terai) and 5 more per katha. Every definition this series has located is set out with the evidence behind it.
Computed on the Bihar state standard katha of 1,361.25 square feet, one of 6 definitions this series carries for this unit.
Twenty katha to the bigha in Bihar, West Bengal and Jharkhand, but five in Assam. The Assam bigha is 14,400 sq ft and its katha 2,880, so a reader applying the Bihar ratio to an Assam document is out by a factor of four.
Bigha = Katha × 0.05 (UP pucca / Bihar / Rajasthan pucca)
| Katha | Bigha (UP pucca / Bihar / Rajasthan pucca) |
|---|---|
| 1 | 0.05 |
| 2 | 0.1 |
| 3 | 0.15 |
| 5 | 0.25 |
| 10 | 0.5 |
| 20 | 1 |
| 50 | 2.5 |
| 100 | 5 |
| 200 | 10 |
| 500 | 25 |
| 1,000 | 50 |
| Bigha definition | Where it applies | 1 bigha in sq ft | Bigha per katha | Terminates? | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UP pucca / Bihar / Rajasthan pucca (the definition used here) | Purvanchal, Awadh, Patna belt, east Rajasthan | 27,225 | 0.05 | Exact | sourced |
| UP kachha (6⅔ biswa) | West Uttar Pradesh | 9,075 | 0.15 | Exact | sourced |
| UP kachha (5 biswa) / Uttarakhand hills | West UP, Kumaon and Garhwal hills | 6,806.25 | 0.2 | Exact | sourced |
| Rajasthan kachha / Gujarat vigha / Uttarakhand Terai | Marwar, Gujarat, Terai | 17,424 | 0.078125 | Exact | sourced |
| Madhya Pradesh | Madhya Pradesh | 12,000 | 0.1134375 | Exact | reported, not sourced |
| West Bengal / Assam / Jharkhand | West Bengal, Assam, Ranchi | 14,400 | 0.09453125 | Exact | sourced |
| Himachal Pradesh / Haryana Rohtak belt | Himachal Pradesh, Rohtak, Hisar | 8,712 | 0.15625 | Exact | sourced |
| Punjab / west Haryana | Punjab, kanal belt of Haryana | 21,780 | 0.0625 | Exact | sourced |
| Haryana Ambala belt | Ambala, Gurugram, Faridabad, Karnal, Panipat | 8,100 | 0.168056 | Recurring | sourced |
Not every definition above rests on an instrument. 1 of the 9 are marked reported or no instrument located: in circulation and internally consistent, but this series could not find a rule, manual or judgment stating them. What was searched for each is recorded with that unit. Terminates? answers only whether the ratio has a finite decimal, not whether the figure behind it is verified.
To convert against one of the other definitions, multiply by its factor.
5 katha × 0.05 = 0.25 bigha
Katha = Bigha × 20 (UP pucca / Bihar / Rajasthan pucca)
Katha = Bigha ÷ 0.15 (UP kachha (6⅔ biswa))
Katha = Bigha × 5 (UP kachha (5 biswa) / Uttarakhand hills)
Katha = Bigha × 12.8 (Rajasthan kachha / Gujarat vigha / Uttarakhand Terai)
Katha = Bigha ÷ 0.1134375 (Madhya Pradesh)
Katha = Bigha ÷ 0.09453125 (West Bengal / Assam / Jharkhand)
Katha = Bigha × 6.4 (Himachal Pradesh / Haryana Rohtak belt)
Katha = Bigha × 16 (Punjab / west Haryana)
Katha = Bigha × 720/121 (Haryana Ambala belt)
1 katha = 1 biswa on the UP / Rajasthan pucca definition. The biswa has no single national value. It is also 1.5625 (Rajasthan kachha) · 3 (Punjab / Haryana old records) · 3.125 (Himachal Pradesh) per katha. Every definition this series has located is set out with the evidence behind it.
Computed on the Bihar state standard katha of 1,361.25 square feet, one of 6 definitions this series carries for this unit.
The Uttar Pradesh pucca biswa and the Bihar katha are the same area, 1,361.25 square feet. Both are one twentieth of a 27,225 sq ft bigha, and the two states took the same subdivision and gave it different names. A reader crossing the Uttar Pradesh-Bihar border meets one quantity under two words.
One katha and one biswa are the same area. The two words name one quantity, so no arithmetic is involved.
Biswa = Katha × 1 (UP / Rajasthan pucca)
On this definition the two are one area of 1,361.25 square feet, so any quantity of katha is the same quantity of biswa, and the ladder would read 1 to 1 the whole way down.
| Biswa definition | Where it applies | 1 biswa in sq ft | Biswa per katha | Terminates? | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UP / Rajasthan pucca (the definition used here) | Uttar Pradesh, east Rajasthan | 1,361.25 | 1 | Exact | sourced |
| Rajasthan kachha | Marwar | 871.2 | 1.5625 | Exact | no instrument located |
| Punjab / Haryana old records | Punjab, Haryana | 453.75 | 3 | Exact | sourced |
| Himachal Pradesh | Himachal Pradesh | 435.6 | 3.125 | Exact | no instrument located |
Not every definition above rests on an instrument. 2 of the 4 are marked reported or no instrument located: in circulation and internally consistent, but this series could not find a rule, manual or judgment stating them. What was searched for each is recorded with that unit. Terminates? answers only whether the ratio has a finite decimal, not whether the figure behind it is verified.
To convert against one of the other definitions, multiply by its factor.
5 katha × 1 = 5 biswa
Katha = Biswa × 1 (UP / Rajasthan pucca)
Katha = Biswa × 0.64 (Rajasthan kachha)
Katha = Biswa ÷ 3 (Punjab / Haryana old records)
Katha = Biswa × 0.32 (Himachal Pradesh)
1 katha = 30.25 chatak, exact. A chatak is 5 sq yd exactly; 16 to the cottah, 968 to the acre. Reported, not stated by any instrument located.
Computed on the Bihar state standard katha of 1,361.25 square feet, one of 6 definitions this series carries for this unit.
Sixteen chatak to the katha in West Bengal. The chatak is the finest rung of the Bengal ladder still written into deeds.
The ratio is the fraction 121/4, or 30.25 exactly.
Chatak = Katha × 30.25
| Katha | Chatak |
|---|---|
| 1 | 30.25 |
| 2 | 60.5 |
| 3 | 90.75 |
| 5 | 151.25 |
| 10 | 302.5 |
| 20 | 605 |
| 50 | 1,512.5 |
| 100 | 3,025 |
| 200 | 6,050 |
| 500 | 15,125 |
| 1,000 | 30,250 |
5 katha × 30.25 = 151.25 chatak
Katha = Chatak ÷ 30.25
1 katha = 20 dhur on the Bihar / Jharkhand (Patna chain) definition. The dhur has no single national value. It is also 378.125 (Tripura) per katha. Every definition this series has located is set out with the evidence behind it.
Computed on the Bihar state standard katha of 1,361.25 square feet, one of 6 definitions this series carries for this unit.
Twenty dhur to the katha in Bihar, where a dhur is 68.0625 square feet, the same area as the Uttar Pradesh biswansi.
Dhur = Katha × 20 (Bihar / Jharkhand (Patna chain))
| Katha | Dhur (Bihar / Jharkhand (Patna chain)) |
|---|---|
| 1 | 20 |
| 2 | 40 |
| 3 | 60 |
| 5 | 100 |
| 10 | 200 |
| 20 | 400 |
| 50 | 1,000 |
| 100 | 2,000 |
| 200 | 4,000 |
| 500 | 10,000 |
| 1,000 | 20,000 |
| Dhur definition | Where it applies | 1 dhur in sq ft | Dhur per katha | Terminates? | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bihar / Jharkhand (Patna chain) (the definition used here) | Patna belt, and Jharkhand districts counting in the Patna katha | 68.0625 | 20 | Exact | reported, not sourced |
| Tripura | Tripura | 3.6 | 378.125 | Exact | sourced |
Not every definition above rests on an instrument. 1 of the 2 are marked reported or no instrument located: in circulation and internally consistent, but this series could not find a rule, manual or judgment stating them. What was searched for each is recorded with that unit. Terminates? answers only whether the ratio has a finite decimal, not whether the figure behind it is verified.
| Katha | Dhur (3.6 sq ft) |
|---|---|
| 1 | 378.125 |
| 2 | 756.25 |
| 3 | 1,134.375 |
| 5 | 1,890.625 |
| 10 | 3,781.25 |
| 20 | 7,562.5 |
| 50 | 18,906.25 |
| 100 | 37,812.5 |
| 200 | 75,625 |
| 500 | 189,062.5 |
| 1,000 | 378,125 |
5 katha × 20 = 100 dhur
Katha = Dhur × 0.05 (Bihar / Jharkhand (Patna chain))
Katha = Dhur ÷ 378.125 (Tripura)
1 katha = 0.01264642632 hectares, exact. A hectare is 10,000 m² exactly.
Computed on the Bihar state standard katha of 1,361.25 square feet, one of 6 definitions this series carries for this unit.
The ratio is the fraction 158,080,329/12,500,000,000, or 0.01264642632 exactly.
Hectare = Katha × 0.01264642632
| Katha | Hectare |
|---|---|
| 1 | 0.01264642632 |
| 2 | 0.02529285264 |
| 3 | 0.03793927896 |
| 5 | 0.0632321316 |
| 10 | 0.1264642632 |
| 20 | 0.2529285264 |
| 50 | 0.632321316 |
| 100 | 1.264642632 |
| 200 | 2.529285264 |
| 500 | 6.32321316 |
| 1,000 | 12.64642632 |
5 katha × 0.01264642632 = 0.0632321316 hectares
Katha = Hectare ÷ 0.01264642632
1 katha = 9.453125 lessa, exact. A lessa is the 12-foot mauzadari jar squared (Assam Land Records Manual r.117); 20 to a katha, 100 to a bigha.
Computed on the Bihar state standard katha of 1,361.25 square feet, one of 6 definitions this series carries for this unit.
Twenty lessa to the katha in Assam. Five katha then make an Assam bigha, not twenty, which is where most Assam conversions go wrong.
The ratio is the fraction 605/64, or 9.453125 exactly.
Lessa = Katha × 9.453125
| Katha | Lessa |
|---|---|
| 1 | 9.453125 |
| 2 | 18.90625 |
| 3 | 28.359375 |
| 5 | 47.265625 |
| 10 | 94.53125 |
| 20 | 189.0625 |
| 50 | 472.65625 |
| 100 | 945.3125 |
| 200 | 1,890.625 |
| 500 | 4,726.5625 |
| 1,000 | 9,453.125 |
5 katha × 9.453125 = 47.265625 lessa
Katha = Lessa ÷ 9.453125
1 katha = 0.0236328125 pura, exact. A pura is 4 Assam bigha of 14,400 sq ft. The 4:1 ratio is SOURCED -- the Supreme Court states it in 1961 and 1971 and the Gauhati High Court in 1986, 2023, 2024 and 2026 -- but no instrument, judgment or manual states the square-foot figure, which is derived from the Assam bigha.
Computed on the Bihar state standard katha of 1,361.25 square feet, one of 6 definitions this series carries for this unit.
Twenty Assam katha to the pura, because five katha make an Assam bigha and four bigha make a pura. The Assam katha is 2,880 sq ft, four times the Bengal one, so a Bengal reading of this chain is out by a factor of four at every step.
The ratio is the fraction 121/5,120, or 0.0236328125 exactly.
Pura = Katha × 0.0236328125
| Katha | Pura |
|---|---|
| 1 | 0.0236328125 |
| 2 | 0.047265625 |
| 3 | 0.0708984375 |
| 5 | 0.1181640625 |
| 10 | 0.236328125 |
| 20 | 0.47265625 |
| 50 | 1.181640625 |
| 100 | 2.36328125 |
| 200 | 4.7265625 |
| 500 | 11.81640625 |
| 1,000 | 23.6328125 |
5 katha × 0.0236328125 = 0.1181640625 pura
Katha = Pura ÷ 0.0236328125
1 katha = 1,361.25 square feet, exact. A square foot is the base of this series.
Computed on the Bihar state standard katha of 1,361.25 square feet, one of 6 definitions this series carries for this unit.
The katha is the unit an eastern deed is actually written in, and it has no single value: 1,361.25 square feet in Bihar, 720 in West Bengal and Jharkhand, 2,880 in Assam. The state comes before the arithmetic.
The ratio is the fraction 5,445/4, or 1,361.25 exactly.
Square Feet = Katha × 1,361.25
| Katha | Square Feet |
|---|---|
| 1 | 1,361.25 |
| 2 | 2,722.5 |
| 3 | 4,083.75 |
| 5 | 6,806.25 |
| 10 | 13,612.5 |
| 20 | 27,225 |
| 50 | 68,062.5 |
| 100 | 136,125 |
| 200 | 272,250 |
| 500 | 680,625 |
| 1,000 | 1,361,250 |
5 katha × 1,361.25 = 6,806.25 square feet
Katha = Square Feet ÷ 1,361.25
1 katha = 126.4642632 square metres, exact. A square metre is the SI unit of area.
Computed on the Bihar state standard katha of 1,361.25 square feet, one of 6 definitions this series carries for this unit.
The ratio is the fraction 158,080,329/1,250,000, or 126.4642632 exactly.
Square Meter = Katha × 126.4642632
| Katha | Square Meter |
|---|---|
| 1 | 126.4642632 |
| 2 | 252.9285264 |
| 3 | 379.3927896 |
| 5 | 632.321316 |
| 10 | 1,264.642632 |
| 20 | 2,529.285264 |
| 50 | 6,323.21316 |
| 100 | 12,646.42632 |
| 200 | 25,292.85264 |
| 500 | 63,232.1316 |
| 1,000 | 126,464.2632 |
5 katha × 126.4642632 = 632.321316 square metres
Katha = Square Meter ÷ 126.4642632
Exactness of the method is not exactness of the result: where a ratio does not terminate, the table says so and the formula gives the fraction.
1 katha = 3 biswa kacha on the Punjab / Haryana revenue definition; 1.5625 on the Rajasthan kachha reading definition. Biswa Kacha = Katha × 3 (Punjab / Haryana revenue) · reverse Katha = Biswa Kacha ÷ 3
| Katha | Biswa Kacha (Punjab / Haryana revenue) |
|---|---|
| 1 | 3 |
| 2 | 6 |
| 3 | 9 |
| 5 | 15 |
| 10 | 30 |
| 20 | 60 |
| 50 | 150 |
| 100 | 300 |
| 200 | 600 |
| 500 | 1,500 |
| 1,000 | 3,000 |
Every definition as a factor. Multiply katha by the figure shown.
| Biswa Kacha definition | Where | Biswa Kacha per katha |
|---|---|---|
| Punjab / Haryana revenue definition (the definition used here) | Punjab, Haryana | 3 |
| Rajasthan kachha reading; no instrument located | Marwar | 1.5625 |
1 katha = 151.25 gaj (exact). Gaj = Katha × 151.25 · reverse Katha = Gaj ÷ 151.25
| Katha | Gaj |
|---|---|
| 1 | 151.25 |
| 2 | 302.5 |
| 3 | 453.75 |
| 5 | 756.25 |
| 10 | 1,512.5 |
| 20 | 3,025 |
| 50 | 7,562.5 |
| 100 | 15,125 |
| 200 | 30,250 |
| 500 | 75,625 |
| 1,000 | 151,250 |
1 katha = 18.90625 ankanam on the Standard definition; 37.8125 on the Tirupati definition. Ankanam = Katha × 18.90625 (Standard) · reverse Katha = Ankanam ÷ 18.90625
| Katha | Ankanam (Standard) |
|---|---|
| 1 | 18.90625 |
| 2 | 37.8125 |
| 3 | 56.71875 |
| 5 | 94.53125 |
| 10 | 189.0625 |
| 20 | 378.125 |
| 50 | 945.3125 |
| 100 | 1,890.625 |
| 200 | 3,781.25 |
| 500 | 9,453.125 |
| 1,000 | 18,906.25 |
Every definition as a factor. Multiply katha by the figure shown.
| Ankanam definition | Where | Ankanam per katha |
|---|---|---|
| Standard (the definition used here) | Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, parts of Karnataka | 18.90625 |
| Tirupati | Tirupati and parts of Chittoor | 37.8125 |
1 katha = 0.25 kanal on the Standard (66-inch karam) definition; 0.3025 on the Majha belt (60-inch karam) definition · 0.329376 on the Doaba belt (57.5-inch karam) definition · 0.373457 on the Kapurthala belt (54-inch karam) definition. Kanal = Katha × 0.25 (Standard (66-inch karam)) · reverse Katha = Kanal × 4
| Katha | Kanal (Standard (66-inch karam)) |
|---|---|
| 1 | 0.25 |
| 2 | 0.5 |
| 3 | 0.75 |
| 5 | 1.25 |
| 10 | 2.5 |
| 20 | 5 |
| 50 | 12.5 |
| 100 | 25 |
| 200 | 50 |
| 500 | 125 |
| 1,000 | 250 |
Every definition as a factor. Multiply katha by the figure shown.
| Kanal definition | Where | Kanal per katha |
|---|---|---|
| Standard (66-inch karam) (the definition used here) | Most of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal, J&K | 0.25 |
| Majha belt (60-inch karam); reported, not sourced | Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Tarn Taran | 0.3025 |
| Doaba belt (57.5-inch karam); reported, not sourced | Jalandhar, Kapurthala and Hoshiarpur, and Kangra in Himachal | 0.329376 |
| Kapurthala belt (54-inch karam); reported, not sourced | Parts of Kapurthala | 0.373457 |
1 katha = 5 marla on the Standard (66-inch karam) definition; 6.05 on the Majha belt (60-inch karam) definition · 6.587524 on the Doaba belt (57.5-inch karam) definition · 7.469136 on the Kapurthala belt (54-inch karam) definition · 6.05 on the HSVP urban estate definition. Marla = Katha × 5 (Standard (66-inch karam)) · reverse Katha = Marla × 0.2
| Katha | Marla (Standard (66-inch karam)) |
|---|---|
| 1 | 5 |
| 2 | 10 |
| 3 | 15 |
| 5 | 25 |
| 10 | 50 |
| 20 | 100 |
| 50 | 250 |
| 100 | 500 |
| 200 | 1,000 |
| 500 | 2,500 |
| 1,000 | 5,000 |
Every definition as a factor. Multiply katha by the figure shown.
| Marla definition | Where | Marla per katha |
|---|---|---|
| Standard (66-inch karam) (the definition used here) | Most of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal, J&K | 5 |
| Majha belt (60-inch karam); reported, not sourced | Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Tarn Taran | 6.05 |
| Doaba belt (57.5-inch karam); reported, not sourced | Jalandhar, Kapurthala and Hoshiarpur, and Kangra in Himachal | 6.587524 |
| Kapurthala belt (54-inch karam); reported, not sourced | Parts of Kapurthala | 7.469136 |
| HSVP urban estate | Haryana urban estates | 6.05 |
1 katha = 0.00125 murabba on the Punjab canal colony definition; 0.002 on the Rajasthan (Indira Gandhi Canal) definition. Murabba = Katha × 0.00125 (Punjab canal colony) · reverse Katha = Murabba × 800
| Katha | Murabba (Punjab canal colony) |
|---|---|
| 1 | 0.00125 |
| 2 | 0.0025 |
| 3 | 0.00375 |
| 5 | 0.00625 |
| 10 | 0.0125 |
| 20 | 0.025 |
| 50 | 0.0625 |
| 100 | 0.125 |
| 200 | 0.25 |
| 500 | 0.625 |
| 1,000 | 1.25 |
Every definition as a factor. Multiply katha by the figure shown.
| Murabba definition | Where | Murabba per katha |
|---|---|---|
| Punjab canal colony (the definition used here); reported, not sourced | Punjab, Haryana canal colonies | 0.00125 |
| Rajasthan (Indira Gandhi Canal) | Sri Ganganagar, Hanumangarh, Bikaner, Jaisalmer | 0.002 |
1 katha = 45 square karam on the Standard (66-inch karam) definition; 54.45 on the Majha belt (60-inch karam) definition · 59.287713 on the Doaba belt (57.5-inch karam) definition · 67.222222 on the Kapurthala belt (54-inch karam) definition. Square Karam = Katha × 45 (Standard (66-inch karam)) · reverse Katha = Square Karam ÷ 45
| Katha | Square Karam (Standard (66-inch karam)) |
|---|---|
| 1 | 45 |
| 2 | 90 |
| 3 | 135 |
| 5 | 225 |
| 10 | 450 |
| 20 | 900 |
| 50 | 2,250 |
| 100 | 4,500 |
| 200 | 9,000 |
| 500 | 22,500 |
| 1,000 | 45,000 |
Every definition as a factor. Multiply katha by the figure shown.
| Square Karam definition | Where | Square Karam per katha |
|---|---|---|
| Standard (66-inch karam) (the definition used here) | Most of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal, J&K | 45 |
| Majha belt (60-inch karam); reported, not sourced | Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Tarn Taran | 54.45 |
| Doaba belt (57.5-inch karam); reported, not sourced | Jalandhar, Kapurthala and Hoshiarpur, and Kangra in Himachal | 59.287713 |
| Kapurthala belt (54-inch karam); reported, not sourced | Parts of Kapurthala | 67.222222 |
1 katha = 1.264642632 ares (exact). Ares = Katha × 1.264642632 · reverse Katha = Ares ÷ 1.264642632
| Katha | Ares |
|---|---|
| 1 | 1.264642632 |
| 2 | 2.529285264 |
| 3 | 3.793927896 |
| 5 | 6.32321316 |
| 10 | 12.64642632 |
| 20 | 25.29285264 |
| 50 | 63.2321316 |
| 100 | 126.4642632 |
| 200 | 252.9285264 |
| 500 | 632.321316 |
| 1,000 | 1,264.642632 |
1 katha = 3.125 cent (exact). Cent = Katha × 3.125 · reverse Katha = Cent × 0.32
| Katha | Cent |
|---|---|
| 1 | 3.125 |
| 2 | 6.25 |
| 3 | 9.375 |
| 5 | 15.625 |
| 10 | 31.25 |
| 20 | 62.5 |
| 50 | 156.25 |
| 100 | 312.5 |
| 200 | 625 |
| 500 | 1,562.5 |
| 1,000 | 3,125 |
1 katha = 0.5671875 ground (exact). Ground = Katha × 0.5671875 · reverse Katha = Ground ÷ 0.5671875
| Katha | Ground |
|---|---|
| 1 | 0.5671875 |
| 2 | 1.134375 |
| 3 | 1.7015625 |
| 5 | 2.8359375 |
| 10 | 5.671875 |
| 20 | 11.34375 |
| 50 | 28.359375 |
| 100 | 56.71875 |
| 200 | 113.4375 |
| 500 | 283.59375 |
| 1,000 | 567.1875 |
1 katha = 1.25 guntha (exact). Guntha = Katha × 1.25 · reverse Katha = Guntha × 0.8
| Katha | Guntha |
|---|---|
| 1 | 1.25 |
| 2 | 2.5 |
| 3 | 3.75 |
| 5 | 6.25 |
| 10 | 12.5 |
| 20 | 25 |
| 50 | 62.5 |
| 100 | 125 |
| 200 | 250 |
| 500 | 625 |
| 1,000 | 1,250 |
1 katha = 0.630208 nali (recurring). Nali = Katha × 121/192 · reverse Katha = Nali × 192/121
| Katha | Nali |
|---|---|
| 1 | 0.630208 |
| 2 | 1.260417 |
| 3 | 1.890625 |
| 5 | 3.151042 |
| 10 | 6.302083 |
| 20 | 12.604167 |
| 50 | 31.510417 |
| 100 | 63.020833 |
| 200 | 126.041667 |
| 500 | 315.104167 |
| 1,000 | 630.208333 |
1 katha = 1,264,642.632 square centimeter (exact). Square Centimeter = Katha × 1,264,642.632 · reverse Katha = Square Centimeter ÷ 1,264,642.632
| Katha | Square Centimeter |
|---|---|
| 1 | 1,264,642.632 |
| 2 | 2,529,285.264 |
| 3 | 3,793,927.896 |
| 5 | 6,323,213.16 |
| 10 | 12,646,426.32 |
| 20 | 25,292,852.64 |
| 50 | 63,232,131.6 |
| 100 | 126,464,263.2 |
| 200 | 252,928,526.4 |
| 500 | 632,321,316 |
| 1,000 | 1,264,642,632 |
1 katha = 196,020 square inch (exact). Square Inch = Katha × 196,020 · reverse Katha = Square Inch ÷ 196,020
| Katha | Square Inch |
|---|---|
| 1 | 196,020 |
| 2 | 392,040 |
| 3 | 588,060 |
| 5 | 980,100 |
| 10 | 1,960,200 |
| 20 | 3,920,400 |
| 50 | 9,801,000 |
| 100 | 19,602,000 |
| 200 | 39,204,000 |
| 500 | 98,010,000 |
| 1,000 | 196,020,000 |
1 katha = 0.0001264642632 square kilometer (exact). Square Kilometer = Katha × 0.0001264642632 · reverse Katha = Square Kilometer ÷ 0.0001264642632
| Katha | Square Kilometer |
|---|---|
| 1 | 0.0001264642632 |
| 2 | 0.0002529285264 |
| 3 | 0.0003793927896 |
| 5 | 0.000632321316 |
| 10 | 0.001264642632 |
| 20 | 0.002529285264 |
| 50 | 0.00632321316 |
| 100 | 0.01264642632 |
| 200 | 0.02529285264 |
| 500 | 0.0632321316 |
| 1,000 | 0.1264642632 |
1 katha = 0.000048828125 square mile (exact). Square Mile = Katha × 0.000048828125 · reverse Katha = Square Mile × 20,480
| Katha | Square Mile |
|---|---|
| 1 | 0.000048828125 |
| 2 | 0.00009765625 |
| 3 | 0.000146484375 |
| 5 | 0.000244140625 |
| 10 | 0.00048828125 |
| 20 | 0.0009765625 |
| 50 | 0.00244140625 |
| 100 | 0.0048828125 |
| 200 | 0.009765625 |
| 500 | 0.0244140625 |
| 1,000 | 0.048828125 |
Six of the thirty-two units are two names for one area with another, so their figures are identical to the last digit.
1 katha = 3.125 decimal. A decimal and a cent are the same area, 435.6 square feet, so any Katha figure converts to the same number of either. Decimal = Katha × 3.125 · reverse Katha = Decimal × 0.32
1 katha = 3.125 dismil. A dismil and a cent are the same area, 435.6 square feet, so any Katha figure converts to the same number of either. Dismil = Katha × 3.125 · reverse Katha = Dismil × 0.32
1 katha = 151.25 gajam. A gajam and a gaj are the same area, 9 square feet, so any Katha figure converts to the same number of either. Gajam = Katha × 151.25 · reverse Katha = Gajam ÷ 151.25
1 katha = 0.03125 killa. A killa and an acre are the same area, 43,560 square feet, so any Katha figure converts to the same number of either. Killa = Katha × 0.03125 · reverse Katha = Killa × 32
1 katha = 5 perches. A perch and a marla are the same area, 272.25 square feet, so any Katha figure converts to the same number of either. Perch = Katha × 5 · reverse Katha = Perch × 0.2
1 katha = 151.25 square yards. A square yard and a gaj are the same area, 9 square feet, so any Katha figure converts to the same number of either. Square Yard = Katha × 151.25 · reverse Katha = Square Yard ÷ 151.25
The tables above are arithmetic, and for a katha the arithmetic is the easy half. What decides whether the figure you started with is the right one to convert at all is The Katha Has No Value of Its Own.
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