Batta

Batta, in the British army in India, is an allowance in addition to the ordinary pay of officers. The pay is fixed; but the batta varies according to the part of the country in which the troops are placed, and also depends on the circumstance of their being in the field or in cantonments. If in the field, or more than 200 miles from the presidential government cities, the officers receive full batta; if in garrison, or in cantonment within that distance, half batta. The word is Indo-Portuguese, as old at least as 1548, and most likely originally derived from the Canarese bhatta, 'rice in the husk.'