A History of Agriculture in India v2.c74.s7.4

v2.c74.s7.4

Each *subah* was divided into a certain number of *sircars*, and each *sircar* into *parganas* or *mahals*, and the *parganas* again were aggregated into *dasturs* or districts. The words used before Akbar's time to represent tracts of country larger than a *pargana* were *shakk*, *khitta*, *ursa*, *diyar*, *vilayat*, and *ikta*, but the latter was generally applied when the land was assigned for the support of the nobility or their contingents.