14/08/2021
The role that monsoons have played in the cultural imagination of South Asia is rarely given attention. The visiting monsoon clouds makes water a distinctive reality. The otherwise precarious water becomes a regular encounter to be tapped carefully into useful purposes. In this light Sunil Amrith's discussion around the historical preoccupation with taming water in the subcontinent hold special salience. From micro practices like redirecting natural stream flow into the rice fields to construction of elaborate canal work for irrigation, the idea of having control of water characterizes monsoon cultures. Making the most of the season would determine the course of the year. As shown by James Scott in the case of South-East Asia, the agrarian systems connected with the monsoons were central to the functioning of early-modern states with seats of power located in proximity to rice cultivation areas. Monsoon cultures here becomes a distinctive assemble of seasonality, agriculture and resulting governmental patterns.
