The timekeeper

Olivia Aubriot (1)

1 Milieux, sociétés et cultures en Himalaya

In Aslewacaur, a village in the middle mountains of central Nepal, irrigation is precisely managed: individual water rights are defined, the water is dislributed to each irrigalor according to a very specific time schedule and each canal user has to participate in the maintenance work according to his water right. Maintenance work is indeed important as landslides often occur on the six-kilometre-long canal located on a hillside. It is collective work supervised by the canal chief (kuJoko mukhiya), who is also responsible for the attendance register. Dhanapali Pande was the canal chief of Aslewacaur from 1964 to 1994. Dhanapali Pande was also timekeeper.

Mots clés: agriculture; pêche; élevage; forêt; irrigation; clepsydre; népal

Domaines: Anthropologie sociale et ethnologie; Géographie

Olivia Aubriot. The timekeeper. European Bulletin of Himalayan Research, 1999, A special double issue on photography dedicated to Corneille Jest, 15-16, pp.24. ⟨hal-00595970⟩