*4.2.2 Water culture: temporal diversity*

Today, the center of the definition of big cities in the country is its population, business and industry, whereas in ancient Indian tradition, the definition of a big city or village included its ponds. The size of the population, volume of the business and industrial presence was never asked, rather how many ponds a village or a city had used to be in the core of identity. A comprehensive study of various Indian traditions tells us the integral linkage of ancient Indians with water resources.

In the Madhubani area of Bihar, in the sixth century, the villagers altogether had made 63 ponds in the entire area. It thrills us to think that how big an organization that too of people from diverse communities would have been formed and how many resources would have been mobilized to complete such a big but social project. These ponds in Madhubani are still alive and people keep on remembering them with gratitude. The only secret of the long life of all these ponds was the importance of these ponds in the minds of the people and a kind of family attachment.

The story of the creation of ponds in the tribal-dominated areas of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Orissa is linked to the judicial system prevailing in that era. Somewhere in villages, a pond was made as a reward of timely payment of taxes, while in some cases, the reward for constructing a pond was extended by the Gond kings [From the 14th to the 18th century] in the state of Madhya Pradesh, in addition, the land below the newly built pond did not have to be rented, this practice was especially observed in the Narmada region of Madhya Pradesh, the entire Chhattisgarh and Sambalpur region of Orissa.

Similarly, construction of a pond used to be a part of the penal legislation in certain areas of central India. In Bundelkhand region, when the community panchayats used to punish for the unforgivable mistake of one of their members, they had often asked them to build a pond in the residential area. There has been another interesting tradition; it was believed that everyone has to undertake a pilgrimage in their life. Those who could not go on pilgrimage due to any compulsion, they can do religious work by making a pond near their house. The people who put their resources and energy for the construction of pond were regarded as a virtuous soul. The person who raised resources and labor for the ponds in the society was looked upon with respect and counted in the category of a priest.

It has been a tradition in Chhattisgarh that out of the 13 full moons of the year, 11 were kept for collective labor work by the community people, but on the full moon of the month of Pauṣa [a month of the Hindu calendar that corresponds to December/January], there was a tradition of collecting paddy or in turn money for the pond. It has been a tradition to celebrate an annual festival in this month with the spirit of paying an honor to preceding rainy season. In this festival, groups of people used to go out, sing songs and collect money from individuals. The funds deposited in this way were kept in the village fund. From this fund, repairs and new works of ponds and other public places were completed. In this area, there was a unique tradition related to the respect of ponds. Ponds were also married with complete rituals. This practice continues in Chhattisgarh even today. The pond could not have been used before the said marriage, neither to drain it nor to cross it. People used to bring the soil of all the surrounding temples of the area, water from other five or seven ponds nearby and holy Ganges water on this ceremonial day. The marriage was said to be completed by mixing all these water and soil. At

some places, the people used to arrange dowry according to their ability, the annual anniversary of marriage was also celebrated on the pond. Much later, when the pond was cleaned and excavated again, there was a tradition of erecting pillars in memory of that ceremony.

This tradition is still being carried out on a large scale in some areas of India. In BinduSagar, near the famous JagannathPuri temple of Orissa, water from every water source across the country has been piously mixed, even from far and wide. Devotees who come to the temple of JagannathPuri from different directions bring some water from their area with them and offer it to Bindusagar. BinduSagar is a symbol of the unity of the whole of India.

In northern, Bihar, there was a custom to build a pond by the rich people of the society after the acquisition of education. This tradition continued for a long time in Madhubani and Darbhanga regions of the state. There also existed a system of nomenclature of these ponds which were scripted on the copper plate, on which the complete details of the pond were also engraved.

In Gujrat, the full filling of the pond was not only considered an event, but was also considered an indicator of happiness and good luck. It came under the category of a festival. An elephant statue built in the Ghat of Hamirsar, the largest pond in Bhuj or Kutch of Gujarat used to represent the level of water. When the water touched this idol, news spread throughout the city and the townspeople would gather at the ghats of the pond. This event was celebrated as a festival, the kings of Bhuj would come to the ghat and worship the pond in the presence of the whole city and return with the blessings of the full tank.
