Khasra
Encyclopedia
A khasra is a legal agricultural
document used in India
and Pakistan
that specifies land and crop details. It is often used in conjunction with a shajra
(or shajra kishtwar), which is a reference map of the village
that administers the land described by the khasra. Khasras traditionally detail "all the fields and their areas, measurement, who owns and what cultivators he employs, what crops, what sort of soil, what trees are on the land."
has existed for several centuries, far predating the British colonial
period. Medieval khasra documents are a useful source for historians in reconstructing the economic history in specific areas of India and Pakistan.
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
document used in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
and Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
that specifies land and crop details. It is often used in conjunction with a shajra
Shajra
A shajra or shajra kishtwar is a detailed village map that is used for legal and administrative purposes in India and Pakistan. A shajra maps out the village lands into land parcels and gives each parcel a unique number. The patwari maintains a record for each one of these parcels in documents...
(or shajra kishtwar), which is a reference map of the village
Village
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...
that administers the land described by the khasra. Khasras traditionally detail "all the fields and their areas, measurement, who owns and what cultivators he employs, what crops, what sort of soil, what trees are on the land."
Khatauni
A khatauni (ख़तौनी, ختونی) is an abstract based on the khasras of a village that lists out all the holdings of an individual or family in that village. In other words, all khasras that belong to a given individual will be listed in the khatauni of that individual.History
Systematic khasra documentation in the Indian subcontinentIndian subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent, also Indian Subcontinent, Indo-Pak Subcontinent or South Asian Subcontinent is a region of the Asian continent on the Indian tectonic plate from the Hindu Kush or Hindu Koh, Himalayas and including the Kuen Lun and Karakoram ranges, forming a land mass which extends...
has existed for several centuries, far predating the British colonial
British Raj
British Raj was the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; The term can also refer to the period of dominion...
period. Medieval khasra documents are a useful source for historians in reconstructing the economic history in specific areas of India and Pakistan.