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Land glossary — the words on land records, across India

भूमि शब्दकोश — पूरे भारत के ज़मीन के रिकॉर्ड के शब्द, आसान हिंदी और अंग्रेज़ी में

Every state keeps its land records in its own words — a jamabandi in Rajasthan, a khatauni in Uttar Pradesh, a khatian in Bihar and Bengal, a 7/12 in Maharashtra, a chitta in Tamil Nadu, a pahani in Karnataka. This glossary explains 312 of them in plain English and Hindi, region by region, with the sources each meaning comes from.

North Indiaउत्तर भारत75 words · Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Ladakh, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Delhi, Chandigarh East and North-East Indiaपूर्व और पूर्वोत्तर भारत92 words · Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura, Andaman & Nicobar Islands West and Central Indiaपश्चिम और मध्य भारत57 words · Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu South Indiaदक्षिण भारत88 words · Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Puducherry, Lakshadweep

Looking for a term in depth? The Academy encyclopaedia has longer entries for many of these words. Reading a Rajasthan record? See how to read a jamabandi. Converting units? Use the land converter.

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11E sketch · South India — Karnataka pre-mutation survey sketch needed before registering a sale of part of a survey number.
135-D notice · West and Central India — Gujarat intimation sent to interested persons when a mutation entry is recorded.
7/12 extract (Satbara utara) · West and Central India — Village land record joining Form VII (rights) and Form XII (crops) for one parcel.
8-A extract · West and Central India — Owner-wise khata register listing all parcels one holder has in a village.

A

A-Register · South India — Tamil Nadu village land register listing every survey number with classification, extent, tax and patta number.
Abadi · North India — The inhabited (residential) site of a village, distinct from agricultural land.
Adangal · South India — Village register of crops, cultivator, irrigation and land use for each survey number.
Adhi · East and North-East India — Sharecropping system; the cultivator delivers a share or quantity of the produce.
Akar / Akarani (assessment) · West and Central India — Land revenue assessment recorded for a parcel on the 7/12.
Akarband · South India — Karnataka survey register of each survey number's total area, kharab deduction, classification and assessment.
Akhing · East and North-East India — Garo Hills clan or community land held under the custody of a Nokma.
Aks shajra · North India — A copy of the village field map (shajra), usually for the area around a particular plot.
Amin · East and North-East India — Revenue surveyor who measures and demarcates land and prepares sketch maps.
Anchal · East and North-East India — Revenue circle: the sub-divisional unit where land records and mutation are handled.
Ankanam · South India — Small house-site area unit in parts of Andhra Pradesh; its size differs between places.
Annual patta · East and North-East India — In Assam, a one-year settlement with restricted rights; can be converted to periodic patta.
AnyROR · West and Central India — Gujarat Revenue Department portal for viewing 7/12, 8-A and VF-6 records.
Are · South India — Metric area unit used in Kerala and Tamil Nadu revenue and survey records alongside hectares.
Article 371A · East and North-East India — Constitutional provision: Parliament's land laws apply in Nagaland only if its Assembly agrees.
Asami · North India — UP and Delhi tenure term for a tenant-type holder whose rights are not freely saleable.
Assigned land · South India — Government land given to landless or homeless poor on condition that it is not sold or transferred.

B

B-1 · West and Central India — Holder-wise record naming the bhumiswami, shares and plots held in a village.
Bainama · North India — The sale deed by which land is sold.
Bakasht · East and North-East India — Land under the landlord's personal cultivation when the Bihar Land Reforms Act, 1950 came into force.
Banglarbhumi · East and North-East India — West Bengal's official land-records portal.
Banjar · North India — Land left uncultivated; 'jadid' after four harvests, 'qadim' after eight (per housing.com).
Barani · North India — Rain-fed land: cultivated land with no irrigation, depending on rainfall.
Bargadar · East and North-East India — A sharecropper who cultivates another's land and delivers a share of the produce.
Basic tax receipt · South India — Kerala Village Office receipt for annual land tax (basic tax), showing thandaper and survey details.
Bastu · East and North-East India — Homestead (residential) class of land in West Bengal records.
Batai · North India — Crop-sharing arrangement between the owner and the cultivator.
Batai · East and North-East India — Crop-sharing arrangement where produce is shared between owner and cultivator.
Bhag chas · East and North-East India — Odisha sharecropping; a 'bhag' tenant pays a share or fixed quantity of produce.
Bhoodan land · East and North-East India — Land donated in Vinoba Bhave's Bhoodan movement, vested in the State for the landless.
Bhoomi · South India — Karnataka's computerised land records system that issues RTC/pahani and tracks mutations.
Bhu Bharati · South India — Telangana's digital record-of-rights platform under the Bhu Bharati Act, successor to Dharani.
Bhu-naksha · North India — State online portals showing the digitised village map with each khasra plot.
Bhu-naksha · East and North-East India — Cadastral (plot) map of a village or mouza, now available online in many states.
Bhudhaar · South India — Unique identification number for a land parcel recorded in the record of rights.
Bhuinhari · East and North-East India — A Chota Nagpur tenure recognised under the Chota Nagpur Tenures Act, 1869 and referred to in the CNT Act.
Bhuiyan · West and Central India — Chhattisgarh's official land records portal.
Bhulekh · East and North-East India — Odisha's online land-records website for RoRs and maps.
Bhumidhar · North India — UP and Delhi tenure term for the recorded landholder with ownership-type rights.
Bhumiswami · West and Central India — The recorded landholder class in MP and Chhattisgarh records, named in the B-1.
Bigha · North India — Traditional area unit whose size differs from state to state and even within a state.
Bigha · East and North-East India — Large traditional land unit; its size varies by state and district.
Bigha · West and Central India — Traditional land unit whose size varies by place.
Bihar Bhumi · East and North-East India — Bihar Revenue and Land Reforms Department's online land-records portal.
Bir · North India — Grass preserve recorded as 'Bir Maqbooza' in Rajasthan; can be turned into charagah.
Biswa · North India — Sub-unit of the bigha; generally one-twentieth of a bigha, but local practice varies.
Biswansi · North India — Sub-unit of the biswa in bigha-biswa-biswansi area notation.
BL&LRO · East and North-East India — Block Land and Land Reforms Officer: West Bengal's block-level land records office.
Boja / Bhumi bandhak · West and Central India — Loan or mortgage charge recorded against land.

C

Cent · South India — Land area unit equal to one-hundredth of an acre, widely used in south Indian states.
Chahi · North India — Land irrigated from a well (or tubewell); 'chahi nehri' is partly well- and partly canal-irrigated.
Chaka · East and North-East India — Odisha consolidation term for amalgamating and redistributing scattered parcels into compact holdings.
Chakbandi · North India — Consolidation: amalgamating and redistributing scattered fields to reduce plots, then preparing new records.
Charagah · North India — Village pasture (grazing) land, recorded as 'Ghair Mumkin Charagah' in Rajasthan.
Chhatak · East and North-East India — Small sub-unit of the katha/cottah used in West Bengal.
Chitha · East and North-East India — Assam's field index register listing every field (dag) of a village with area, holder, tenure and class.
Chitta · South India — Tamil Nadu village revenue extract of ownership and land classification for survey numbers.
Circle officer · East and North-East India — Head of the revenue circle, responsible for mutation, records and related certificates.
Circle Officer / Circle Inspector · West and Central India — Maharashtra revenue officers in charge of a circle above the talathis.
CNT Act · East and North-East India — Chota Nagpur Tenancy Act, 1908: tenancy law for Chota Nagpur that restricts land transfers.
Collector · West and Central India — Chief revenue officer of a district.
Comunidade · West and Central India — Goa's traditional village land association that grants land, often on perpetual lease (aforamento).
Consolidation of holdings · West and Central India — Statutory regrouping of scattered farm plots to prevent fragmentation.
Conversion · East and North-East India — Official change of a plot's recorded class or tenure; meaning differs by state.
CS, RS and LR records · East and North-East India — Successive survey record series: Cadastral Survey (CS), Revisional Survey (RS) and, in West Bengal, Land Reforms (LR).

D

Dag · East and North-East India — Plot number on the village cadastral map.
Dakhil kharij · North India — UP term for mutation: entering the new owner's name and removing the old one in the khatauni.
Dakhil-kharij · East and North-East India — Mutation: changing the record to enter the new owner's name and remove the old one.
Data Bank · South India — Kerala's notified list of paddy land and wetland by survey number, displayed at the Village Office.
DCLR · East and North-East India — Deputy Collector Land Reforms: appellate authority against Circle Officers' mutation orders in Bihar.
Decimal · East and North-East India — One-hundredth of an acre.
Demarcation · East and North-East India — Official field marking of a plot's boundaries by revenue staff.
Demarcation (seemankan) · West and Central India — Official marking of a parcel's boundaries on the ground from survey records.
Deputy Commissioner · South India — District head of revenue administration in Karnataka; issues land conversion orders.
Dharani · South India — Telangana's earlier digital record-of-rights and land registration platform, replaced by Bhu Bharati in 2025.
Dharitree · East and North-East India — Assam's land-records system for chitha, jamabandi and maps.
Dhur · East and North-East India — Bihar sub-unit of the kattha.
Dhurki · East and North-East India — Smallest traditional Bihar land unit; 20 make one dhur.

E

E-Rekha · South India — Kerala Survey and Land Records Department's online directory of survey records, maps and registers.
E-Swathu · South India — Karnataka panchayat portal for rural non-agricultural property records (Form 9 and Form 11B).
Encumbrance certificate · South India — Sub-Registrar's certificate listing registered transactions on a property over a chosen period.
Ente Bhoomi · South India — Government of Kerala integrated land information portal linking survey, revenue and registration records.

F

Fard · North India — Certified extract of the jamabandi for specific land, used for sales, loans and court work.
Fard · East and North-East India — Certified extract from the khatian or jamabandi.
Fard badr · North India — Correction of an entry in the land record.
Ferfar (mutation entry) · West and Central India — Numbered entry in the village register of mutations recording a change of rights.
FMB sketch · South India — Survey sketch showing a survey number's boundaries, measurements, sub-divisions and neighbouring numbers.
Form I & XIV · West and Central India — Goa's record of rights extract for a survey number and sub-division.
Fragment (standard area) · West and Central India — Farm plot below the notified standard area, with limits on transfer and partition.

G

Gair dakhildar · North India — Entry in the cultivation column for a person in unauthorised possession.
Gair khatedar · North India — Rajasthan: a class of tenant recorded as 'Gair-Khatedar Tenant', distinct from a khatedar tenant.
Gair mumkin · North India — 'Not possible' (to cultivate): land recorded as unculturable, often with its use, e.g. pond, river, pasture.
Gair-mazrua · East and North-East India — Land not recorded as a tenant's holding, vested in the State after the 1950 land reforms.
Gairan (pasture land) · West and Central India — Village land set apart as pasture in Maharashtra.
Gajalu · South India — Telugu name for the square yard, used for urban plots in Telangana.
Ganda · East and North-East India — Sub-unit of the kani used in Tripura.
Gaon sabha land · North India — Village common land vested in or managed by the Gaon/Gram Sabha or Gram Panchayat.
Gat number · West and Central India — Parcel number on many Maharashtra 7/12s and maps, alongside or instead of survey number.
Gata · North India — UP and Uttarakhand name for the khasra (plot) number.
Gharabari · East and North-East India — Homestead (residential) class of land in Odisha records.
Ghumaon · North India — Traditional area unit; housing.com equates it with 43,560 sq ft (one acre) without naming a place.
Girdawar · North India — Revenue inspector who supervises patwaris and verifies their land-record entries.
Girdawari · North India — Seasonal field-by-field crop inspection and the khasra girdawari register that records it.
Gochar · North India — Cattle-grazing (pasture) land recorded in Rajasthan revenue records.
Gramakantam · South India — Village land set apart for dwellings and related uses in Telangana.
Granted land · South India — Karnataka government land granted to SC/ST persons, covered by the 1978 transfer-prohibition law.
Ground · South India — Traditional land unit used in Tamil Nadu real estate; size not stated here for a named place.
Guideline value · South India — Government-set property value used for computing stamp duty at registration.
Gunta · South India — Land area unit used with the acre in Telangana and Karnataka records (acres-guntas).
Guntha · West and Central India — Traditional land unit in Maharashtra records and deeds.

H

Hadbast number · North India — Serial number of a revenue village (estate) in the records.
Hakk Patrak (Village Form 6) · West and Central India — Gujarat name for Village Form 6, the register of mutation entries.
Hal and sabik · East and North-East India — 'Hal' marks the current record number; 'sabik/sabek' marks the older number from a previous survey.
Halka · East and North-East India — Smallest revenue administrative unit, often matching a panchayat.
Halka karmachari · East and North-East India — Field-level revenue employee for a halka handling mutation reports, rent and records.
Halqa · North India — The patwari's circle: the group of villages whose records one patwari keeps.
Hectare-Are · West and Central India — Metric area units used on current land records.
Hiba · North India — Gift of land, and the mutation entered when land is gifted.
Hibba · East and North-East India — Gift deed transferring land ownership without consideration.
Hissa · South India — Sub-division number within a Karnataka survey number, usually created on partition.
Hissa (sub-division) · West and Central India — Portion of a survey number with its own recorded area and assessment.

I

Inam · South India — Historic grant of land by former rulers; inam tenures were abolished and converted under state laws.
Inam land · West and Central India — Historic grant ('alienated') land, often regranted on conditional, restricted tenure.
Intkal · North India — Mutation: entering a change of ownership or rights in the revenue record after sale, inheritance, gift, etc.
IORA · West and Central India — Gujarat's online revenue applications portal.
Itar adhikar (other rights) · West and Central India — 7/12 column listing loans, charges, restrictions and third-party claims.

J

Jamabandi · North India — Periodically rewritten record of rights listing owners, shares, cultivators, area and land class for every plot.
Jamabandi · East and North-East India — Running revenue record of landholders; in Assam it is the Record of Rights itself.
Jenmam · South India — Kerala customary form of landholding named in land-reform law; the jenmi is the holder.
JL number · East and North-East India — Jurisdiction List number that identifies a mouza in West Bengal records and deeds.
Juni sharat / Navi sharat · West and Central India — Gujarat tenure labels: old tenure freely transferable; new tenure needs prior permission.

K

Kanal · North India — Area unit of 20 marlas, used in kanal-marla records of Punjab, Haryana, J&K and Chandigarh.
Kanam · South India — Kerala customary tenure: landlord's transfer of an interest in land for consideration, with security features.
Kani · East and North-East India — Local land unit used in Tripura, divided into gandas.
Kani · South India — Traditional Tamil land area unit equal to four ma in the traditional table.
Kanungo · North India — Revenue official above the patwari who supervises a group of patwaris and their records.
Karam · North India — Length unit used in Punjab land measurement; its length set the size of the marla and kanal.
Kashtkar · North India — Cultivator of the land, as entered in the cultivation column.
Katha · East and North-East India — Local land unit whose size differs widely from place to place.
Kaveri · South India — Karnataka Stamps and Registration Department's online system for registration, EC and guidance values.
Kewala · East and North-East India — Bihar term for a sale deed.
Khanapuri · East and North-East India — Early survey stage when khatian columns are filled with preliminary details.
Kharab · South India — Waste or non-cultivable land within a Karnataka survey number, deducted from its extent.
Khas mahal · East and North-East India — State-owned land under direct government control, leased out but not privately owned.
Khasra · North India — The number given to each field or plot on the village map and in the land records.
Khasra (P-II) · West and Central India — Plot-wise land record in MP and Chhattisgarh, kept by agricultural year.
Khata · North India — The account (holding) number under which all plots of one holder or family are grouped.
Khata · East and North-East India — Account number in the record of rights grouping all plots of one holder.
Khata · South India — Karnataka: local-body property account; AP/Telangana: revenue account number grouping one owner's survey numbers.
Khata / Khatedar · West and Central India — Khata is a holder's account in village records; the khatedar is the account holder.
Khatauni · North India — UP/Uttarakhand/Delhi: the account-wise record of rights; Punjab/Haryana/HP: the cultivator's number inside the jamabandi.
Khatauni · West and Central India — Holder-wise account of land and land revenue payable, kept by financial year.
Khatedar · North India — Rajasthan: the recorded holder of agricultural land (khatedar tenant) under the Rajasthan Tenancy Act 1955.
Khatian · East and North-East India — Record of Rights prepared after a land survey, listing holders, plots, area, land type and rent.
Khesra · East and North-East India — Survey plot number, unique within one revenue village.
Khewat · North India — Ownership account number in the jamabandi grouping all plots of the same owner or co-owners.
Khudkasht · North India — Land cultivated by the owner himself rather than by a tenant.
Killa · North India — A field block of about one acre in consolidated Punjab/Haryana villages; also its number in the records.
Killabandi · North India — Laying out or measuring land in rectangles (killas).
Kisam · East and North-East India — The nature or class of land recorded against each plot in Odisha's RoR.
Kist · South India — Assessed land revenue payable to the state, recorded against a survey number.
Kistwar · East and North-East India — Survey stage of measuring, plotting and demarcating each field.
Korkar · East and North-East India — Under the CNT Act, land artificially levelled or embanked mainly for rice cultivation.
Kudikidappu · South India — Kerala hutment-dweller's protected right to occupy a homestead site on another's land.
Kul (tenant) · West and Central India — Tenant cultivating another's land, recorded in the 7/12 tenant column.
Kuzhi · South India — Traditional Tamil land area unit; the smaller unit from which the ma is built.
Kuzhikanam · South India — Kerala tenure transferring garden land with fruit trees for enjoyment and planting of trees.

L

Lagaan · North India — Land revenue (land tax) payable on agricultural land, and the receipt for paying it.
Lagan · East and North-East India — Annual land rent/revenue payable on land.
Lagan rasid · East and North-East India — Government receipt for payment of land rent.
Lal dora · North India — Red line on revenue maps enclosing a village's inhabited abadi, separating it from farmland.
Land conversion · South India — Official permission to use agricultural land for non-agricultural purposes such as housing.
Land Settlement Certificate · East and North-East India — Mizoram certificate showing land permanently settled with the holder.
Legal heir certificate · South India — Tahsildar's certificate naming surviving family members entitled to inherit; used for patta transfer after death.
Lekhpal · North India — UP and Uttarakhand name for the village land-records official (the patwari's counterpart).
Lessa · East and North-East India — Assam's smallest traditional land unit, a sub-unit of the katha.
Location sketch · South India — Kerala sketch officially recording the geographical location of a land parcel; available through Ente Bhoomi.
Lot mandal · East and North-East India — Assam's village-level land recorder for a 'lot' of villages.
LPC · East and North-East India — Land Possession Certificate; its role differs between Bihar and Arunachal Pradesh.

M

Ma · South India — Traditional Tamil land area unit (100 kuzhi); still heard in land dealings.
Mahabhumi / Mahabhulekh · West and Central India — Maharashtra's official land records portal.
Mamlatdar · West and Central India — Taluka revenue officer in Gujarat, Goa and DNH-DD; equivalent to tahsildar.
Manavari · South India — Tamil Nadu classification for rain-fed agricultural land.
Marla · North India — Small area unit; 20 marlas make a kanal. Its size varied historically between districts.
Maurusi · North India — A permanent (hereditary) cultivator-tenant entry in the cultivation column.
Mauza · North India — A revenue village (revenue estate) as a unit of land records.
Meebhoomi · South India — Andhra Pradesh's official online portal for adangal, ROR 1-B, e-passbook and related land records.
Missal haqiyat · North India — The record-of-rights file prepared during a land settlement; later jamabandis are its amended editions.
Mojani (measurement) · West and Central India — Official land measurement by Maharashtra's land records department.
Mojini · South India — Karnataka's survey system and the official survey sketch it produces for a survey number.
Mother deed · South India — Earliest registered document in a property's chain of title, to which later deeds connect.
Mouza · East and North-East India — Revenue village or revenue unit used as the base address of land records.
Mouzadar · East and North-East India — Assam revenue functionary in charge of a mouza's revenue affairs.
MP Bhulekh · West and Central India — Madhya Pradesh's authorised land records portal.
MRO · South India — Mandal Revenue Officer: officer in charge of a revenue mandal, the same office as the Tahsildar.
Mundari khunt-katti · East and North-East India — Special CNT Act tenancy of Mundari village founders who reclaimed jungle land.
Mundkar · West and Central India — In Goa, a person living with permission in a dwelling on another's land, protected from eviction.
Murabba · North India — A square block of 25 killas (acres) used in Punjab-type land layouts.
Mustil · North India — Haryana records term for a rectangle (block) of land within which fields carry killa numbers.
Mutation · South India — Changing the owner's name in revenue records after sale, inheritance, gift, partition or court order.

N

NA permission / Bin-kheti / Diversion · West and Central India — Permission or intimation needed before farm land is used for non-agricultural purposes.
Naib tehsildar · North India — Deputy to the tehsildar, a revenue officer with delegated powers.
Nakal · North India — A copy of a land record, usually the certified copy of the jamabandi or of a mutation order.
Naksha / Bhu-Naksha · West and Central India — Village cadastral map showing survey or plot numbers and boundaries.
Nali · North India — Small hill land unit used in Uttarakhand.
Namantaran · North India — Hindi word for mutation, the standard term on Rajasthan's land-record portal.
Namantaran (mutation) · West and Central India — Mutation in MP/CG: changing the recorded holder after sale, inheritance or partition.
Nambardar · North India — Village headman linked to land-revenue collection; often a witness in revenue work.
Namjari · East and North-East India — Mutation: registering a person's name in the record of rights after transfer or inheritance.
Nanjai · South India — Tamil Nadu classification for wet (irrigated) agricultural land.
Natham · South India — Village dwelling-site land in Tamil Nadu; house-site pattas are issued for it.
Nazul · North India — Government-owned land, typically urban land given on lease.
Nazul land · West and Central India — State-owned land usually held by others on lease, kept in separate nazul records.
Nehri · North India — Land irrigated by canal.
Nilam · South India — Kerala land adapted for paddy cultivation; conversion is tightly restricted.
Nilamagal · South India — Puducherry's online land records portal, linked from the Revenue Department website.
Nokma · East and North-East India — Garo head of a clan (machong) who holds Akhing land as custodian.

O

Occupant · South India — Person in actual possession of land; not necessarily the owner or pattadar.
Occupant Class I / Class II · West and Central India — Maharashtra tenure classes: Class I freely transferable; Class II transfer-restricted.

P

Pahani · South India — Village land record of owner, tenancy, crops and liabilities; called RTC in Karnataka.
Panchami land · South India — A Tamil Nadu revenue sub-category of government land; needs careful checking before any purchase.
Parimarjan · East and North-East India — Bihar online process to correct wrong entries in the digitised jamabandi.
Partition · East and North-East India — Official division of a holding or revenue-paying estate into separate parts.
Partition (batwara) · West and Central India — Dividing a joint holding into separately recorded shares.
Patta · East and North-East India — A grant or lease document for land; its rights differ greatly from state to state.
Patta · South India — Revenue record of rights naming the person who holds land, with survey number, extent and classification.
Patta transfer · South India — Tamil Nadu mutation: putting the new owner's name on the patta after a registered transfer.
Pattadar · East and North-East India — The holder of a patta, recorded as landholder in the land record.
Pattadar · South India — Person registered in government land revenue accounts as holding land under a patta.
Pattadar passbook · South India — Passbook-cum-title deed issued to a pattadar, listing their lands, extent and transactions.
Patwari · North India — Village-level revenue official who keeps the land records of one or more villages.
Patwari · West and Central India — Village land-records official in MP and Chhattisgarh.
Periodic patta · East and North-East India — In Assam, a long-term settlement giving permanent, heritable and transferable rights; called 'myadi'.
Podi · South India — Karnataka survey process that splits a survey number into separate hissa parcels, e.g. on partition.
Pokkuvaravu · South India — Kerala's mutation: changing the holder's name in the Village Office thandaper after a deed or death.
Poramboke · South India — Government-owned common land kept for public use, such as tanks, channels, roads, grazing or burial grounds.
Porcha · East and North-East India — A copy or extract of the khatian given to the recorded holder.
Possession certificate · South India — Kerala Village Officer's certificate/sketch confirming a named person's physical possession of a parcel.
Pot kharab · West and Central India — Unculturable part of a holding, shown separately on the 7/12.
Pre-mutation sketch · South India — Kerala sketch of the parcel being transferred, prepared before mutation; now needed at registration in surveyed villages.
Property card (Malmatta patrak) · West and Central India — Urban land record of the city survey office, identified by a CTS (city survey) number.
Punjai · South India — Tamil Nadu classification for dry agricultural land.
Purayidam · South India — Kerala classification for dry/garden land usable for residence or commerce, as distinct from paddy nilam.

R

Raiyat · East and North-East India — A landholder/cultivator with recognised rights; 'raiyati' land is land held by raiyats.
RDO · South India — Revenue Divisional Officer: Deputy Collector heading a revenue division; hears appeals and grants conversions.
Record of rights · East and North-East India — The finally published land record after survey or settlement, showing who holds which land and how.
Record of Rights (RoR) · West and Central India — Statutory village record of holders, occupants, tenants and others with interests in land.
Register II · East and North-East India — Circle-level register of all raiyats of a revenue village, compiled from their jamabandis.
Rehan · North India — Mortgage of land, typically recorded as a charge in the jamabandi remarks.
Resurvey · South India — Re-measurement of village lands that can give parcels new survey or block numbers and new maps.
Revenue inspector · East and North-East India — Field revenue officer in Odisha who reports on land and updates records and rent after orders.
Revenue Inspector · South India — Revenue official who does field verification of mutations before the Tahsildar decides (Karnataka).
Revenue Inspector (RI) · West and Central India — Tehsil revenue official working between the tahsildar and patwaris.
Revenue Order No. 1 · East and North-East India — Sikkim order barring sale, mortgage or sub-letting of Bhutia-Lepcha land to others without sanction.
Ri kynti · East and North-East India — Khasi Hills private land, owned absolutely by a person or clan.
Ri raid · East and North-East India — Khasi Hills community land: only use and occupancy rights, no private ownership.
ROR-1B · South India — Statutory record of rights showing pattadar, khata number, survey number, extent and liabilities.
Roznamcha · North India — The patwari's daily diary of land events in the village (sales, orders, partitions, notices).
Ryotwari · South India — Tamil Nadu classification for private land held under patta, as opposed to government land.

S

Sada bainama · South India — Unregistered land sale on plain paper; Telangana has a route to regularise some such holdings.
Sairat · East and North-East India — Government or panchayat land or assets that yield revenue and are settled to lessees for fixed terms.
Sanparivartan · North India — Conversion of agricultural land to a non-agricultural use with government permission (Rajasthan s.90-A).
Sarsahi · North India — One square karam; nine sarsahi make a marla.
SDC · East and North-East India — Sub-Deputy Collector: Manipur revenue officer who conducts enquiries and demarcation.
SDO / SDM · West and Central India — Revenue officer of a district sub-division, between tahsildar and Collector.
Section 22A prohibited properties · South India — List of properties the state bars from registration, such as assigned, endowment, ceiling-surplus and government lands.
Seema gyan · North India — Rajasthan term for getting the boundaries of one's land demarcated by revenue staff.
Settlement Commissioner (Jamabandi Ayukta) · West and Central India — Head of Maharashtra's survey, settlement and land records department.
Shajra · North India — The village cadastral map showing every field with its khasra number, shape and boundaries.
Shajra nasab · North India — Pedigree table of the landowners of a village showing how ownership passed by succession.
Shamlat deh · North India — Village common land in Punjab-type records, held for common village purposes.
Shuddhi patra · East and North-East India — Slip ordering a correction in the land record after an order.
Sivay chak · North India — Unoccupied culturable government land in Rajasthan.
Sixth Schedule · East and North-East India — Constitutional schedule for tribal areas run by autonomous councils that can make land laws.
SLR / DILR · West and Central India — Land-records officers who survey, measure and keep maps.
SPT Act · East and North-East India — Santhal Parganas Tenancy (Supplementary Provisions) Act, 1949: bars most raiyati transfers.
Sthitiban · East and North-East India — Odisha RoR status of a settled raiyat with permanent, heritable and transferable rights.
Sub-division · South India — Splitting a survey number into separately numbered parts, recorded in survey and revenue records.
Survey number · West and Central India — Number for a parcel whose area and assessment are separately entered in land records.
Survey number · South India — Number identifying a separately recorded portion of land in village revenue and survey records.
Swaghoshna · East and North-East India — Self-declaration form filed by landholders in the Bihar Special Survey.

T

Tahasildar · East and North-East India — Revenue officer of a tahasil who issues RoRs and decides mutation and record cases.
Tahsildar · West and Central India — Chief revenue officer of a taluka/tehsil; naib tahsildar is the deputy.
Tahsildar · South India — Head of the taluk or mandal revenue office; approves mutations and issues key land records.
Talathi / Talati · West and Central India — Village revenue officer who keeps the village forms, 7/12, 8-A and mutation register.
TamilNilam · South India — Tamil Nadu's computerised land-records application used by taluks for patta and patta transfer.
Taqseem · North India — Partition: dividing a jointly held holding so each co-owner gets a separate recorded share.
Tatima · North India — Sub-division of a field after division, and the map/sketch drawn for that sub-divided plot.
Tehsildar · North India — Revenue officer in charge of a tehsil, who attests records and decides mutations.
Thana number · East and North-East India — Identification number assigned to each revenue village (mauza) in Bihar.
Thandaper · South India — Kerala village-office land account for a holder, linking their parcels with land-tax assessment.
Tippan · South India — Karnataka's original field-measurement record of each survey number's boundary dimensions.
Tribal belts and blocks · East and North-East India — Protected areas in Assam where land transfer to non-protected classes is restricted.
Tribal land · East and North-East India — Land of Scheduled Tribe or protected communities, whose transfer is restricted by state laws.
TSLR · South India — Tamil Nadu's land register for surveyed towns, identified by ward, block and town survey number.

U

UDR · South India — Tamil Nadu's 1979-87 scheme that inspected and updated revenue records of all agricultural lands.

V

Vanshavali · East and North-East India — Genealogy (family tree) form used in the Bihar Special Survey.
VAO · South India — Village-level revenue official in Tamil Nadu (and Puducherry) who keeps village land registers.
Varasat · North India — Inheritance; the mutation that records legal heirs after a recorded owner dies.
Varsai (heirship entry) · West and Central India — Mutation entry recording the heirs of a deceased landholder in Gujarat.
Veli · South India — Traditional Tamil land area unit equal to five kani in the traditional table.
Verumpattamdar · South India — Kerala lessee who holds land under a lease, with or without security for rent.
Vested land · East and North-East India — Land that passed to the State, e.g. surplus above the ceiling limit, often redistributed to the landless.
Village Accountant · South India — Karnataka village revenue official who maintains the RTC and village land records.
Village Form (Gaon Namuna) · West and Central India — Numbered village revenue registers kept by the talathi; Forms 6, 7/12 and 8-A matter most.
Village Officer · South India — Head of Kerala's Village Office, which keeps the thandaper, collects land tax and issues certificates.
VRO · South India — Village Revenue Officer: village-level official who keeps the adangal in Andhra Pradesh.

W

Watan land · West and Central India — Historic grant linked to village service; often transfer-restricted after abolition.

How to read this glossary

High confidence: Meaning confirmed in an official source.
Medium confidence: Meaning from a reputable source; some details from secondary sources.
Less certain: Less certain — usage varies or sources are thin. Check locally.

Compiled 1 October 2026. Compiled on 1 October 2026 from state revenue department glossaries and manuals, land revenue Acts and codes, official land-record portals, court judgments and, where marked, reputable secondary sources. Every meaning is tied to the sources listed with it.

Independent, not a government body. AgriZameen is an independent platform and is not affiliated with any government department. These meanings are for understanding land records; they are not legal advice. Words and unit sizes vary from place to place — confirm what a word means in your record with the patwari, the tehsil or a licensed advocate. AgriZameen एक स्वतंत्र मंच है, किसी सरकारी विभाग से संबद्ध नहीं। यह क़ानूनी सलाह नहीं है।