Food Sources: Earth, Water, and Air - Food Culture and Health in Pre-Modern Islamic Societies - page 60

were recognised to those who reclaimed
waste land without permission. Reclama-
tion projects were given prior approval by
the sultan by special diplomas called temlīk-
nāmes which recognised proprietary rights
on waste land as well as on running water
and springs within the area delimited by
the document. A prescribed amount of
land, called arīm , and surrounding newly-
constructed water conduits, springs, or
wells, was recognised as the legal property
of the owner of the water.
Water in the ¶ ar s and anāts was sub-
ject to private ownership, and no one
could make use of it without previous
permission of the owner. In the case of
those waters under joint ownership of a
number of partners, none of the partners
could open new water channels, construct
mills, or change the sequence or direction
of water-use without the consent of the
other partners. When given, such permis-
sion could be revoked at any time. Water
was divided between the partners accord-
ing to the size of their respective land
holdings. Partners on the upper reaches
of the river were not allowed to dam up
the water and thereby cause shortage on
the lower reaches. If a dam had to be
constructed, water rights were distributed
starting at the lower reaches and work-
ing upstream from there. The owner of a
body of running water had certain rights
when it flowed through somebody else's
land. The owner of the land was forbid-
den to obstruct the flow of the water and
had to permit the owner of the water to
carry out necessary repair work on his
land. a- ª urb , the right to make use
of water at a given interval, could be the
subject of inheritance or devise, but could
not be either sold, bequeathed, rented, or
given away as charity. However, in Otto-
man practice we find examples of owners
of water, of individuals or of a waf foun-
dation, where the water might be sold for

use in irrigation. What the state was con-
cerned about was to prevent speculation
in the price of water and to prevent the
depriving of those who had a- ª urb in
favour of those paying higher prices.
In addition to the prescription on water
use in Islamic law, the Ottomans contin-
ued practices and regulations which they
found in the conquered lands and enacted
new legislation. These concerned the water
supply for cities, water distribution, espe-
cially in areas with water shortages, and
rice growing, which became a major state
enterprise involving water use on a large
scale. General Ottoman policy regarding
water use and water works was deter-
mined to a great extent by the Ottoman
land tenure system, which left the direct
exploitation of agricultural land primar-
ily to the reāyā farming small units. The
state did not participate directly in large-
scale water or land reclamation projects
or in agricultural production, except for
the water supply in the cities and for rice
growing. Such projects were usually initi-
ated and carried out in the form of waf
endowments by members of the Ottoman
house or of the upper echelons of the
ruling class. There was no government
agency responsible for water projects or
regulations for water use. The construc-
tion of aqueducts and maintenance of
water ways was under the supervision of
the ser-mimārān-i ¶ āa , head architect in
charge of public works. Under his author-
ity, and directly under a nāir or superin-
tendent, were the su yol ¡ ular , technicians
in charge of the maintenance of water
pipe system in Istanbul.

Rice cultivation as a major irrigation activity
Here one can see how the Ottomans
realised large-scale irrigation projects. In
rice growing, abundant water supply and
maintenance of water courses for constant
watering of the rice paddies were crucial,