Evaluating lessons from the past for the future
Evaluating lessons from the past for the future
The Kathmandu Valley has a unique historic irrigation infrastructure of channels (rajkulos), which provide irrigation for cultivation as well as domestic supply by feeding into networks of sunken brick-lined tanks with stone spouts, referred to as hitis. Its origins have been ascribed to the Licchavi Period (c.5th-8th centuries CE). Inscribed stone spouts, small water tanks (jaladroni) and regulations recorded in royal edicts preserved on stone slabs attest to these constructions and provide insights into donative and administrative patterns related to irrigation infrastructure. Confirmed through architectural studies, the Department of Archaeology (Government of Nepal) has excavated and recorded stone-lined rajkulos and terracotta pipelines, which derive much of their supply by tapping into springs, aquifers, groundwater sources and surface runoff with ponds constructed close to hitis to help recharge these systems through rainwater storage. Many of these systems are still in use, but some have become blocked and damaged by unchecked development, as identified during recent post-disaster fieldwork (Coningham et al. 2019), while others have been depleted by the proliferation of groundwater pumps draining natural groundwater. Furthermore, the historic artefacts bearing Sanskrit inscriptions relating to these ancient water constructions are at high risk of damage or unchecked removal due to flooding or repair and construction works, and are therefore in need of comprehensive documentation and analysis.
Recent collaborative research activities have highlighted that these water systems are not just vestiges of the past but play continued dynamic roles as foci for communities and intangible traditions. Indeed, it has also already been argued that the rehabilitation of rajkulos and hitis could substantially contribute to groundwater recharge if undertaken in suitable locations of the Valley. This workshop will gather experts from philology, archaeology, cultural studies, engineering and conservation to explore pathways for regeneration of these irrigation systems by evaluating how they originated, were constructed and managed historically and then declined, as examplified by lessons learnt from the Dry Zone or Sri Lanka and Tehran Plain or Iran, where multidisciplinary fieldwork has revealed that sustainable and small-scale traditional irrigation systems were more resilient compared with modern mega-infrastructure projects. The rajkulos/hiti system has the potential to mobilise inidigenous design and low-cost alternatives for sustainable water supply within the Valley, integrating physical infrastrucutre and agency management aspects, unlike the current Asian Development Bank mega-infrastructure project to expand reservoirs and divert major rivers at a loan cost of US$170,000,000 (ADB Project 3404-043).
The results and discussions generated during this workshop will enhance the working schedule for upcoming research activities in the frame of a two-year Royal society-British Academy-Royal Academy of Engineering APEX grant "Exploring the feasibility of regenerating Medieval Licchavi Period irrigation infrastructure in the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal" (APX\R1\231178), supported and co-sponsored by the FWF-funded project "Mapping piety, politics and power in Early Medieval Nepa" (FWF V755-G).
Please contact nina.mirnig@oeaw.ac.at if you wish to attend.
Programme
Time: 15-16 December, 2023
Venue: Austrian Academy of Sciences, Seminar room 4A.2, 4th floor, Georg-Coch-Platz 2, 1010 Vienna
Organization: Nina Mirnig (IKGA); Robin Coningham (UNESCO Chair, Durham University)
Contact: nina.mirnig(at)oeaw.ac.at
Friday, December 15, 2023: Public presentations
09:30
Welcome
Birgit Kellner | Director of the Institute for the Cultural and Intellectual History of Asia at the Austrian Academy of Sciences and Co-Director of the Cluster of Excellence EurAsian Transformations: Resources of the Past and Challenges of Diversity
09:35
Introduction
Robin Coningham | UNESCO Chair, Department of Archaeology, Durham University
Nina Mirnig | Institute for the Cultural and Inellectual History of Asia, Austrian Academy of Sciences
Session 1:
Historical Context and Epigraphy
Chair: Verena Widorn | Department of South Asian, Tibetan and Buddhist Studies and Western Himalayan Archives, University of Vienna
09:45-10:15
Survey of historic and material evidence for Licchavi-period irrigation systems
Saubhagya Pradhananga | Director General of the Department of Archaeology, Government of Nepal
10:15-10:45
Donative and administrative patterns related to irrigation infrastructure during the Licchavi Period (hybrid)
Diwakar Acharya | Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, Oxford University
Nina Mirnig | Institute for the Cultural and Intellectual History of Asia, Austrian Academy of Sciences
10:45-11:15
Coffee break
Session 2:
Archaeology and Lessons from the Past
Chair: Bharat Mani Subedi | Secretary of Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Government of Nepal
11:15-11:45
Urban Infrastructure, Climate Change, Disaster and Risk: Lessons from the Past for the Future
Robin Coningham | UNESCO Chair, Department of Archaelogoy, Durham University
11:45-12:15
Excavations of water systems in Kathmandu Valley: by chance or by plan?
Bhaskar Gyawali | Head of Excavations of the Department of Archaeology, Government of Nepal
12:15-13:30
Lunch break
Session 3
Intangible Heritage, Conservation, Management
Chair: Robin Coningham | UNESCO Chair, Department of Archaeology, Durham University
13:30-14:00
Modern rituals associated with ancient water sources and traditional maintenance procedures
Sandhya Khanal | Tribhuvan University
14:00-14:30
Bhandarkhal Tank Pavilion and Tusha Hiti - Conservation and Maintenance of (Step) Wells in Patan, Nepal
Gabriele Krist | UNESCO Chair, University of Applied Arts
Martina Haselberger | University of Applied Arts
14:30-15:00
Situating active and inactive ancient irrigation infrastructure in current heritage management schemes
Kai Weise | Durham University and ICOMOS Nepal
15:00-15:30
Coffee break
Session 4
Engineering, Hazards and Maintenance
Chair: Saubhagya Pradhananga | Director General of the Department of Archaeology, Government of Nepal
15:30-16:00
Protection and maintenance responsibilities of existing Licchavi Period irrigation systems
Bharat Mani Subedi | Secretary of Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Government of Nepal
16:00-16:30
Dynamics of water-borne sediments in historical water management infrastructures - implications for modern-day repurposing (online)
Ian A. Simpson | Department of Archaeology, Durham University
Tim Kinnaird | School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, St. Andrews University
16:30-17:00
Mapping the impacts of geohazards on infrastructure and cultural heritage
David Toll | Department of Engineering and Co-Director of the Institute of Hazard, Risk and Resilience, Durham University
17:00-17:30
Wrap up and final discussion
19:00
Workshop dinner
Saturday, Decemper 16, 2023: International project discussions
Moderation:
Robin Coningham | UNESCO Chair, Department of Archaeology, Durham University
Nina Mirnig | Institute for the Cultural and Intellectual History of Asia, Austrian Academy of Sciences
09:30-11:00
Discussion on Key Messages and Objectives in practice: towards a comprehensive approach
11:00-11:30
Coffee break
11:30-12:30
Implementation of Key Messages into Working Plan
12:30
Lunch break
Poster
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