Ahar-Pynes of South Bihar

Every year, the sorrows of the River Kosi engulf Bihar– its life and its tales. Headlines on floods make us forget that thirty percent of the State is drought-prone (Government of Bihar, 2015).  The soil is drier in South Bihar, rainfall is more erratic, rivers are seasonal and groundwater levels are lower which make sixty percent of South Bihar vulnerable to drought. Ahar-Pynes is a participatory irrigation technology that has helped mitigate this vulnerability over two thousand years. 

 

Origin

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Ahar-Pynes can be traced to Kautilyas’s Arthasastra, a treatise on statecraft written in the Mauryan age. Kautilya described an irrigation system that the King should put in place, especially for rainfed areas. Ahar-Pynes are mentioned in this context, thus dating the system to the Mauryan era. 

A vivid account of the Ahar system under the Zamindars (rent-seeking landlords) during the colonial era can be found in the work of Nirmal Sengupta (1980) . Since the land was controlled by Zamindars, its boundaries were defined as revenue units. Though the boundaries of Ahars and the lengths of Pynes were fixed, water rights were not defined. The allocation of water was managed independently  by the farmers. While the Tikari estate in Gaya maintained exact records in the Lal Bahi (Red Book), the records in other estates were not as meticulous or even written (Sengupta 1998). As the Zamindars were paid in agriculture output, they also had a stake in the maintenance of the irrigation systems. Zamindars used to charge separately to build Gilandazi (irrigation works) and enforce the Gomam (collective physical action) for upkeep, albeit, with force. Zamindars were also responsible for solving any disputes around water distribution. In the 21st century, Gomam is now undertaken with consensus at Gram Sabha (village bodies) meetings. Villagers go to the local administration or the courts to resolve any conflicts. 

 

For an extensive decentralised irrigation system to be sustainable, it needs a functional monitoring mechanism and a participatory system for upkeep. Niranjan Pant states that the monitoring agents in some areas were from a particular community of Dusadhs (Dalits) (Pant, 1998). They would travel from one village to another armed with lathis (sticks) to report the breakdown of Pynes or irregularities in water use by farmers.  

 

A Flow, Interrupted

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So, why did South Bihar turn drought prone post-Independence, and susceptible to vagaries of nature despite pioneering the Ahar-Pynes? The area irrigated by Ahar-Pynes declined from 40 percent in 1901 to nine percent in 1965 to less than two percent now (Pant, 1998). Twenty thousand such structures exist, of which three thousand are defunct (Government of Bihar 2015). This fragility can be traced to inequality in the governance structures of Ahar-Pynes over millennia. 

The area under Ahar Pynes declined as the British Administration introduced changes in the method of revenue collection. The decline of Ahar Pynes coincides with the change from a producer-rent system to cash (Sengupta, 1980). Sengupta posits that land and water were priced together under a producer-rent system, while under the cash system only land was priced. Post-independence, the introduction of tube wells further led to irrigation and land being treated as separate resources. The emphasis on irrigation as distinct from land led to disuse of Ahar Pynes as tube wells occupied the spotlight under the country’s new water policies.

The loss of a central authority like a Zamindar was one of the causes for the Ahar-Pynes falling into disuse. On the other hand during the Mauryan Era, Buddhist Sanghas (associations) and villagers together used to oversee the upkeep of Pynes in a decentralized system and the need for force was minimal (Amar 2009). The introduction of major water works such as canals and private tube-wells after Independence saw the state take charge of irrigation and local management taking a backseat. Thus it is pertinent to note that though Ahar-Pynes was decentralised and efficient, it was built by force. It is possible to attribute the renewed interest in Ahar-Pynes in Bihar to bottom-up demand and consensus building.

The Way Forward

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The gendered access to water in both centralized and decentralized systems of management needs to be understood better. While women pray to the Gods to bless their collective land with rain, there is no institutional mechanism to ensure that they get fair water rights even within a decentralized set-up. Their role as farmers and workers is often rendered invisible because water rights are linked to land ownership. Women in India barely own less than 10 percent of land in their, or even joint, names. Their labour in the informal economy is also under-valued and often unpaid. Government officials say that the upkeep of these community irrigation systems is increasingly being taken up by the Minor Water Resources Department.

“झिझिया एक स्थानीय शब्द है।
घड़ा में छेद होता है इन वजहों से इसे झिझिया बोला जाता है।”

Jhijian is a local word.
A pot has a hole which is why it is called Jhijian

- Swarna Jha, native of Darbhanga, Bihar

Jhijian, a folk dance practiced in Bihar, is performed by a troupe of women bearing matkas (pots) lit with lamps. Women pray to Lord Indra, the God of Rain, to bless the parched lands reeling under drought.

 

Continuity and nature are central to Bihar’s culture. Every year, the people of Bihar celebrate Chhath by standing in water and praying to the Shashthi  (Goddess protecting children) and the Sun. Women fast to express thanks for the natural resources and ask them to continue providing them for their offspring. Ahar-Pynes continue to be central to agriculture systems in South Bihar and have the potential to be transformative if fairness and equity in allocation of water is ensured. 

 

The turn of the century has seen renewed interest in Ahar-Pynes under the Mukhya Mantri Ahar Pyne Yojana and Jan Jeevan Haryali scheme. As we look to nest this system in Bihar’s irrigation policy, we must be mindful of potential sources of inequality – stemming from gender, caste, and land inequality – to ensure that the system is participatory in spirit and practice.

About Srishti Singh

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Srishti Singh holds a Master’s in Economics from the Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi. She is currently working as an Economist at the Central Pollution Control Board, Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change. Her research interests lie at the intersection of water, gender, and climate change. (2020)

Srishti worked on this research project as part of the Water Seekers Fellowship 2020, a collaborative initiative of the Living Waters Museum and the Social and Political Research Foundation.