ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the irrigation system of the village of Kheri, with descriptions of the sources of irrigation water, the network of furrows and ditches, the operation of the system, and the control and regulation of water. The general pattern of the irrigation system as described for Kheri also exists, with only minor variations, at two of the other villages whose irrigation systems were inspected during the course of the field study. Cursory surveys at Rokhari and Kura revealed some important differences between their irrigation systems and the system at Kheri. Informants stated that the annual schedule of agriculture events at Rokhari—irrigation, planting, harvesting, and the like—is somewhat different from the schedule followed at Kheri. The relation between a clan and its spring is purely ritual and does not give the members of the clan any special rights to the use of the spring water in irrigation. Irrigation is a central them in Sonjo religion as well as in agriculture.
