Glossary

Telangana land & survey glossary

Plain-language meanings for the words on your Sethwar / Pahani-Adangal and village / cadastral map, what each one is, and which of them you actually need before joining your sheets.

Pahaniపహాణీ

The annual village land register: for each survey number, who holds it, its extent, its classification and what was grown. Telangana's equivalent of the record of rights, and the document a purchase or a loan is checked against.

Sethwarసేత్వార్

The permanent survey-settlement record prepared for each revenue village at original settlement, listing every survey number with its extent and assessment. Because it is the founding record, it is what a survey or boundary dispute is ultimately resolved against.

Dharaniధరణి

The state's integrated land-records and registration portal, where agricultural land records are maintained and transactions are recorded. Successor arrangements have been announced under the Bhu Bharathi name; check which one your district is operating on before relying on a downloaded copy.

Pattadar Passbookపట్టాదార్ పాస్ బుక్

The book issued to a landholder recording the survey numbers they hold, used as proof of holding for loans and for registration. It carries the title deed for agricultural land and is updated when a transaction is recorded.

Survey numberసర్వే నంబర్

The number identifying a parcel in the village survey. A holding split between heirs or buyers gets sub-divisions of the same number, each with its own sheet: several of which usually have to be joined before the original parcel can be seen whole.

FMB sketchFMB

The Field Measurement Book sketch: the surveyed drawing of a single survey number with its measured boundaries. One sketch shows one number, so land spanning several numbers needs several sketches placed side by side to show its full extent.

F-Line

A boundary demarcation carried out by the revenue survey staff to fix a parcel's limits on the ground: applied for when a boundary is unclear or disputed. The resulting line is what encroachment and extent questions are settled against.

Tahsildar

The revenue officer in charge of a mandal, responsible for land records, mutations and revenue collection within it. The office where certified copies and most land-record corrections are handled.

Mandalమండలం

The revenue sub-division between the district and the village: what other states call a taluk or tehsil. Land records, mutations and survey requests are administered at this level.

Kasra Pahani

An early Pahani, from the period when the village register was first compiled. It is consulted when the current record and an older document disagree about extent or classification, because it shows what the register said before later entries.

Faisal Patti

The village-level statement of land revenue settled against each holding. Alongside the Sethwar it is one of the older settlement records used to establish what a survey number originally comprised.

Village mapగ్రామ పటం

The cadastral map of a revenue village showing every survey number and its boundaries. Issued as several adjacent sheets for a large village, which is why assembling them is usually the first step in seeing a holding in context.

The full Telangana guide · Tamil Nadu's glossary