How to read a Telangana Pahani (Adangal)
What each part of the Pahani is telling you about a survey number, and the three things worth checking on it before you rely on one.
The Pahani is the village land register, kept survey number by survey number. It is the document a bank asks for, a buyer's advocate reads first, and a dispute starts from. It is also, for most people, the first land record they have ever had to read closely, and it is not written to be read by the person whose land it describes.
What it is telling you
- Survey number and sub-division
- The parcel's identity. A sub-division suffix means the original number has been split, which also means there is a separate sheet and a separate entry for each share.
- Extent
- The area recorded against the number. Compare it with what the seller says and with what the map shows; a mismatch between the record and the drawing is worth resolving before money moves.
- Pattadar
- The person recorded as holding the land. What the register says, not necessarily who is on the land, which is the whole reason a buyer reads it.
- Classification
- What kind of land it is recorded as. It governs what may lawfully be done with it, so it matters as much as the extent for anyone buying to build.
- Crop entries
- What has been cultivated, season by season. Often the most telling column on the page for who has actually been in possession.
Three things worth checking
- Whether the holder on the Pahani matches the person selling. If a transfer has not been recorded, the register still names the previous holder, and the register is what everyone downstream will read.
- Whether the extent on the record matches the extent on the map. The Sethwar, the village's original settlement record, is what an argument about extent is ultimately settled against.
- Whether the sub-division numbers you were given actually exist on the register. A holding described loosely, 'part of survey 45', has to resolve to real sub-divisions before it can be mapped or registered.
What the Pahani cannot tell you
It cannot show you a boundary. It names a survey number and gives its extent, and that is where its usefulness stops. If the question is where the line runs (between you and a neighbour, or between two of your own numbers), that is the cadastral sheet and the FMB sketch, and where those are unclear it is an F-line survey on the ground.
This is where most people find they are holding several drawings and no single view of their land: an FMB per survey number, and the village sheet those numbers sit on. Lined up along the boundaries they share, they become one map, which is what a valuer, a buyer or an officer can actually read.
🔗 Telangana land & survey glossary →Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between Pahani and Adangal?+
They refer to the same village land register: the record kept for each survey number showing the holder, extent, classification and crops. Which word is used depends on the district and the era of the form.
Does the Pahani prove ownership?+
It is the revenue record of who is recorded as holding the land, and it is what most parties will read. It is evidence about the record; title questions turn on the registered documents behind it, which is why both are examined together.
The Pahani names someone else after a sale. Why?+
Because the transfer has not been recorded against the survey number yet. Until it is, the register still shows the previous holder. Checking that the transfer has gone through is the step that finishes a purchase.