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What Is Biswa? Land Unit Explained (2026)
What a biswa (เคฌเคฟเคธเฅเคตเคพ) is, how it relates to the bigha, and why its size changes from state to state.
A biswa (เคฌเคฟเคธเฅเคตเคพ) is a traditional Indian land unit that is a part of a bigha. It is used in Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and some neighbouring areas. Its size is not fixed across states, so a buyer must read what the record means by a biswa before converting it into square yards or acres.
What biswa means
The word biswa is linked to the number twenty in older usage, and in many regions a bigha is described as being divided into twenty biswa. We could not confirm that division from an official source for every state, and some regions use different divisions or an additional sub-unit called biswansi. Treat "20 biswa = 1 bigha" as a common local description, not a universal rule.
Because the bigha itself differs by state, a biswa (as a part of the bigha) differs too. See our table in bigha size by state.
Where biswa is used
- Rajasthan: bigha and biswa in Rajasthan.
- Himachal Pradesh: bigha and biswa in Himachal Pradesh, where records use bigha, biswa and biswansi.
- Uttar Pradesh: used in parts of the state; see bigha in Uttar Pradesh.
Biswa also has another meaning in Punjab and Haryana, where it is sometimes described as a small share of a village holding or as a fraction of a marla. Because the same word covers different quantities, always ask which one a deed refers to. We did not verify these alternative meanings from an official text.
How a biswa fits with fixed units
| Unit | Fixed relation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| 1 acre | 4,840 sq yd, 43,560 sq ft | Fixed by definition |
| 1 hectare | 2.471 acre, 10,000 sq m | Fixed by definition |
| 1 bigha | Varies by state and district | Could not confirm an official value |
| 1 biswa | A part of a bigha; size follows the bigha | Could not confirm an official value |
The table is short on purpose. The two rows for bigha and biswa say what we could and could not confirm. Any website that prints one square-foot value for a biswa across India is making an assumption.
How to read biswa in a record
- Look at how the area is written, for example a figure in bigha, biswa and sometimes biswansi.
- Check whether the record also gives the area in hectare, are or square metre. If it does, that is the area to use for any conversion.
- Ask the patwari or the tehsil for the local definition of the bigha and biswa in writing.
- Write the area in square metre or acre in your agreement, together with the local units.
Biswa and biswansi are small but they add up
On a plot of several bigha, a mistaken biswa conversion can shift the total by a large area. Round nothing until the unit is confirmed.
A worked example of reading a record
Suppose a record shows an area of 3 bigha 10 biswa and also shows 0.80 hectare. To learn what the record means, convert the hectare to square metres (8,000 sq m), then divide by the total number of biswa on the plot. If one bigha holds 20 biswa, then 3 bigha 10 biswa is 70 biswa, and each biswa would be about 114.3 sq m. This is an illustration only, built on invented numbers and on the 20-biswa division, which we could not confirm. It shows the method. It is not a statement of any state's biswa.
The method works because the hectare and square metre are fixed. Where a record gives only bigha and biswa, there is nothing fixed to anchor the conversion, and you need the written definition or a site survey.
Where buyers get caught
- A seller advertises "20 biswa" of land and the buyer assumes a familiar bigha.
- The deed uses biswa but the measurement on the ground uses square yards.
- A transfer of part of a bigha is written in biswa without a clear map of which part.
- Co-owners hold shares expressed in biswa, so the area of each share is hard to verify.
Where shares are involved, ask for a partition or demarcation and a map. Our guide on how to verify land title covers the title side.
Checklist before you pay
- Get the unit definition in writing from the revenue office.
- Convert the area to square yards or acre using that definition.
- Match the figure with a physical measurement.
- Check the sale deed wording against the record. See sale deed guide.
- Run the steps in land due diligence checklist.
Biswa and related small units
Below the biswa, some regions use biswansi, and above the bigha some regions use larger units. The chain of sub-units differs between Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, and we did not verify the chain from official texts. For a buyer, the practical point is that a figure such as 2 bigha 7 biswa 5 biswansi cannot be turned into square yards without three local ratios. If a seller cannot state those ratios in writing, ask for the area in hectare or square metre from the record, or measure the plot.
Compare with hill-state units such as nali and mutthi in nali, mutthi and bigha in Uttarakhand, which follow their own chain.
Biswa as a share of a holding
In some villages, ownership shares are written as fractions of a bigha or as a number of biswa, so a co-owner may hold "5 biswa" of a khata. Selling such a share needs the matching entry in the record and, if the co-owners have not partitioned, the consent or signature of the others. Ask whether the share has been physically demarcated. Our mutation guide explains how a change is recorded after the sale.
What we could not confirm
We could not confirm from an official source the number of biswa in a bigha for any state, the biswa value in square yards for any state, or the alternative meanings of biswa in Punjab and Haryana. This page is a DRAFT and makes no claim beyond the fixed units in the table.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is biswa in land measurement?
How many biswa make a bigha?
How many square feet are in a biswa?
Is biswa the same as biswansi?
Which states use biswa?
Can I convert biswa to gaj?
Does the sale deed need the biswa converted?
Why is the same word used for different things?
Where do I check the local definition?
Is an online calculator reliable for biswa?
Sources
- Fixed conversions on this page (1 acre = 4,840 sq yd = 43,560 sq ft; 1 sq yd = 9 sq ft; 1 hectare = 2.471 acre) follow from standard definitions of the acre, yard and hectare.
- We could not open an official revenue department page, Act or gazette giving a bigha, biswa or killa value for the states named here during this review, so no local-unit value is stated as official. Read the definition in your own record.
