Food Sources: Earth, Water, and Air - Food Culture and Health in Pre-Modern Islamic Societies - page 65

were not allowed to be used for any other
purpose. Constant inspection to ensure
their proper use was carried out by the
su yol ¡ ular , who even had the authority
to enter houses for investigation. When a
new charitable institution, a mosque, bath
or fountain was to be built, its founder
was first required to find a water source
outside the city. This water was brought
to the city by means of a device called
atma , that is, the adding of newly-discov-
ered water to the main water conduits of
the mīrī waf . This atma water could be
taken from the main conduits only at cer-
tain specified points. Upon application,
the sultan gave his formal permission for
the use of atma and recognised ownership
rights over this water in a special firmān .
The ª arī principles required that such a
procedure be followed. Many wells were
dug in order to exploit underground water
as a further addition to the city's water
supply. Such waters became the property
of the individuals who discovered them.
Despite the close watch kept over the mīrī
waf waters, there were many instances
of diverting of water by individuals for
private use. The government therefore
closed a strip of land adjacent to the water
line to new construction and assigned the
populace of twelve villages as guardians
and repairers of the water lines outside
the city. To meet the water needs of the
city population, water from the public
fountains was distributed in waterbags by
saa s or saā s. The saā s were organised
in two corporations, the ara saalar or
human water-carriers, and the at saalar
or horse water-carriers, who were in com-
petition with one another.
In repairing and enlarging the water sys-
tem of Mecca dating from Abbāsid times,
the Ottomans made use of the organisa-
tion which they evolved in Istanbul. They
sent a team of experts to carry out the
construction, and using black slaves and

others organised a maintenance crew
along the lines of the su yol ¡ ular organi-
sation of Istanbul.

(H. İnalcık)

9. Irrigation in pre-20th
century Muslim India
Lakes, tanks, wells and artificial canals
have supplemented rain water in the sub-
continent since ancient times. With the
establishment of the Dihlī Sultanate in
the beginning of the 7th/13th century,
traditional irrigation technology began to
undergo a change, owing to the arrival
of skilled architects from Central Asia;
in particular, the construction of wells
with Persian wheels and of large canals
provides a clue to the introduction of cer-
tain mechanical devices and the progress
of civil engineering in India during the
7th/13th and 8th/14th centuries. This
section of the article is divided into three
parts: the first on lakes and tanks, the sec-
ond on wells, and the third on artificial
canals.
The Turkish conquerors were the first
dividers of the water from the land in the
districts of innumerable rivers and bound-
less swamps in Bengal. They built dykes,
roads and tanks and, consequent upon
it, the reclamation of vast tracts of land
was possible in Deltaic Bengal. According
to ⁄ ūz ¡ ānī, the dykes made the move-
ment of people and cattle possible during
the rainy season, while the water flowing
through the channels could be diverted
to the paddy fields, in case failure of the
monsoon caused scarcity.
The first lake built by Sultan · āms
al-Dīn Iltutmi ª (607-33/1211-36) out-
side the capital city of Dihlī was called
the aw-i Sulānī (also aw-i · amsī ).
The mediaeval Indo-Persian writers men-
tion it as a reservoir constructed for sup-
plying drinking water to the city of Dihlī,