The world’s most extensive medieval sacred water management network of the ancient Kmer Empire.
Krit Thienvutichai 2019
Angkor Wat is one of the most important archaelogical sites in Southeast Asia. WIth impressive monuments, several different ancient urban plans and large water reservoirs, the site is a unique concentration of features testifying to an exceptional civilization (UNESCO).
Water management zones classified by topographic condition.
The hydraulic city was classified into three principle zones, with their topographic conditions of hydrogeology and elevation, functioned as one large system to supply the whole region. In the collector zone, the water was taken from natural rivers. In the aggregator and collector zones, water was stored mainly in the earthen embankments of barays, temple moats and small reservoirs.
Clockwise. Mebon, island temple at the centre of the baray; geometric form of Angkor Wat aerial plan; Naek Pean, island temple at the centre of north baray; Baray, large artificial rectangular water reservoir.
The temple island of Naek Pean used to function as a hospital. The central pond symbolizes a mythical lake in the Himalayas whose water is thought to cure all illness. The water overflows from the central pond through chapels to fill up four small ponds with healing water. The ancient Khmers may have believed that bathing in its successive ponds would have restore balance within the body and cured illness or at least washed away sin.
An indigenous technical device placed at the edge of the Kayalnilam for pumping water out from low-lying areas to the major canals or backwaters. It consists of a submerged brass vessel that sucks water out and is run by an electric motor kept inside the pump house. The sucked water flows out through a rectangular brass box.
Project: Kuttanad Kayalnilam Agrosystem, Kerala, India
Climate: Tropical monsoon
Year: 1880-1974 (a modified version is still in use)
Water type: Seasonal mixing of saline and freshwater
Landscape: Polder landscape in a deltaic basin
Altitude: -3 – +1.5 m.a.s.l
Soil condition: Sandy loam clay formed from riverine or lacustrine deposits
A traditional paddy farming system below sea level.
Naeema Ali 2020
The birth of the cultural landscape was marked by the onset of the land reclamation process, locally known as “Kayalkuthu”. When the region encountered acute food shortage in the late 1800s, the virgin landscapes were considered as a gift from the backwaters and were brought to agricultural glory.
Kuttanad cultural landscape.
Here, water management was quintessentially a unit of the cultural expression of the site specific challenges faced by people, be in terms of topography, climate or social hierarchy. The low-lying landscape was subjugated for the benefit of men and women and how they did this narrates the legend behind the existing agricultural landscape of Kuttanad. These radical ingenuities tell us stories of how humans and nature exchanged roles between being makers and takers of the landscape.
Clockwise. Farmer irrigating the field manually using a water wheel; female laborers harvesting paddy; man navigating through waterway in vallam, a canoe boat; lady washing utensils by the canal.
Circular Stories
The salt which came across as a curse sealing the fate of the farmers, however, was a blessing for the fishermen due to fish migration from the sea. Hence, the circle of life in Kuttanad was explicitly linked to this cycle of blessing and curse intermingling with the cycle of water and salt. Likewise, Kayalnilams also operated to optimize their performance within this spatio-temporal context specific to Kuttanad.
The action of turning up the earth when the fields are flooded with a plough that is made of locally available materials, like wood, in order to improve the workability of the soil. In the older days and even nowadays, some of the farmers employ cattle, like cows, to pull the plough manually.
Project Name: Kuttanad Kayalnilam Agrosystem, Kerala, India
Climate: Tropical monsoon
Year: 1880 – 1974 (a modified version still in use)
Water type: Seasonal mixing of saline and freshwater
Landscape type: Polder landscape in a deltaic basin
Meaning: Utilitarian landscape
Water Workers and Users: Farmers and fishermen
Soil: Sandy loam clay formed from riverine and lacustrine deposits
