Khet-batai
Topic: Mughal Agrarian Society and Economy · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 4 "Peasants, Zamindars and the State"
Meaning
Khet-batai was a way of collecting land revenue in kind (in crops, not cash) under the Mughals. It is described in the Ain-i Akbari. "Khet" means field and "batai" means division. The fields were divided between the state and the cultivator after the seed had been sown, and each side took the crop from its own part. It was one form of crop-sharing under Akbar's flexible revenue rules.
Example
Under Akbar, a peasant might sow a field of grain. The field was then split, and the state's share was the crop grown on its part of the field.
Don't confuse with
- Lang batai: Here the harvested grain was divided, not the field. The grain was cut and heaped, then split.
- Kankut: Here nothing was divided. Officials estimated the grain in the crop and fixed the state's share from that estimate.
Related concepts
- Mughal land revenue system
- Jama
- Hasil
- Amalguzar
- Kankut
- Batai
- Lang batai
- Classification of lands under Akbar
- Polaj
- Parauti