Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Persian wheels on the wells to water their
fields and gardens. The writer refers to
the Persian wheels as sawāī , whereas the
contemporary Indo-Persian writers use
rather the term čar . An interesting
anecdote related in the awāmi al-kalim
about · ay Niām al-Dīn Awliyā sug-
gests the presence of the Persian wheel in
Dihlī in the preceding century. It tells us
that · ay Niām Dīn once came across
a čar set up on a well. The cultivator
who was driving the bullocks for lifting
water, exhorted the animals, saying āge
barh, āge barh (“speed up, speed up”) in a
melodious tone. The sound produced by
the motion of the wheels and the voice
of the peasant had such an effect on the
· ay that he immediately passed into a
state of ecstasy.
The anonymous author of the Sīrat-i
Fīrūz- · āhī states that čar s were set
on wells around the newly-constructed
aw-i · ahzāda-yi Mubārak- · āh outside
the capital Fīrūzābād. The aw was
filled with the water lifted from the wells
in the summer when the rain water was
exhausted. He further informs us that the
income from the lake was endowed by
Sultan Fīrūz- · āh for the benefit of the
poor. The work also contains references
to the buckets ( dalw s) made of metal (iron)
instead of kūza (pitchers or pottery ves-
sels), hanging down the wheel by means
of chain of ropes. The Persian term dūlāb
also occurs in the same passage, signify-
ing the surface wheel which was used to
lift water from the aw. The dūlāb was
used to lift water from the open surface
of tanks or rivers, the pitchers or buckets
being fixed on the rim of the wheel, which
was revolved by the hand.
Like Indo-Persian writers, · ay Zayn,
the adr or minister of Bābur, mentions,
the čar . In 925/1519 when Bābur
crossed the helum river and occupied
Bherā (Sargodhā District in Pakistan),
he found Persian wheels as a common
means of irrigation there. The orchards
and the sugar-cane and paddy-fields were
irrigated with the water of wells lifted
thus. Later on, when he occupied the ter-
ritories of Lāhawr, Dipālpūr and Sirhind
(932/1525-6), he found everywhere the
peasants irrigating their fields by means
of the Persian wheel, and he describes its
structure thus: “They make two circles
of ropes long enough to suit the depth of
the well, fix strips of wood between them,
and on these fasten pitchers. The ropes
with the wood and attached pitchers are
put over the well-wheel. At one end of
the wheel axle, a second wheel is fixed,
and close to it another on an upright axle.
This last wheel the bullock turns; its teeth
catch in the teeth of the second, so that
the wheel with the pitchers is turned. A
trough is set up where the water emp-
ties from the pitchers, and from this the
water is conveyed everywhere”. · ay
Zayn says however that in India, other
methods of irrigation are used, includ-
ing the leather bucket ( čaras ) lifted out of
water by yoked oxen, whilst dhekli , based
on the lever system, which is still in use,
was most common.
Gradually, use of the Persian wheel
seems to have spread everywhere during
the Mu al period, but they were espe-
cially numerous in the Pan ¡ āb, the most
prosperous region. Even an average culti-
vator there could afford to set up a Persian
wheel on his well, which had been built of
bricks and plastered with lime, despite the
expenditure.
As for the harnessing of rivers for irri-
gation purposes, the construction of large
artificial canals began in the reign of Sul-
tan Alā al-Dīn al ¡ ī (695-715/1296-
1315) towards the close of the 8th/13th
century. Amīr usraw refers to a deep
and wide canal built by fi āzī Malik in the
territory of Multān when he describes the
revolt of the army and people of Multān
against the governor Mu altay. Besides
Search WWH ::




Custom Search