Gharats (Water Mills) of Himachal Pradesh - Builders Guidebook Released

where the mind is without fear and the head is held high, where knowledge is free......

Where knowledge is free ......

Sigh! (Relief), it has taken 4 long years to get this far, but it has been worth the learning about sustainability and rural Himalayas. Mountain life is unique. In contemporary times with Sustainable Development Goals, terminology in Climate change and a future thinking, we seem to be seeking for answers which will help us last a generation, when sometimes the answers are all around, if we only learn to look back - to look forward. How does craft and culture (agri-culture??) interlink in mountain life. What follows is an ode to the craftspersons and mountain farmers of the Himalayas, and "slow food"

If you have ever visited the Himalayas and traveled between villages, forded streams and rivers, it will be quite impossible to miss out a worn out Gharat or two. About 4 years ago, founders of our organisation Gram Disha Trust, endeavored to revive one such Gharat in our village in Himachal Pradesh. We had about 8 Gharats in upstream next to the river which flows through our farm, now there were almost none upstream. Call it romanticizing, or even regressive to some - the idea was simple - to learn about Appropriate Technologies for smallholder and Climate change. One of my previous articles speaks about this aspect in detail.

While assisting with the building process of the Gharat we tried to find literature on the building process. It was soon discovered that this is a dying craft form. Few if any expert Gharat builders exist and most of them are senior in age. There was no formal document we found on searching the internet and asking around nor was there any engineering assistance available. So we decided that what we have to endure - lack of prior art - we will attempt minimum documentation with the following parameters, for public domain -

1. It should be design oriented.
2. It should also detail the tools used by the mason
3. It should be visual and not just textual or too technical - should serve as a general guidebook - an easy read
4. It should inspire to experiment further and not be used as step by step build-book
5. It should, eventually, be easy to translate in Pahadi vernacular for use by youth interested in Gharat building craft in future.
6. Nomenclature used, should be both vernacular as well as English names. This is needed to be able to relate locally with tools and names used, something which is typically disjoint in modern building systems.

While we had very few resources and negligible technical expertise, I am happy to report the result of the exercise of documentation. Have a brief browse here -

While the main purpose of developing this guidebook remains our own learning, we do hope that it will serve as a guide to future Gharat builders especially the youth who may wish to partake this traditional knowledge which is fast disappearing and help hone and improve upon its intricacies.

Here is a question -

The keystone for a gharat is the spindle and base rock, the correct rock can make or break the Gharat. Selecting the rock is an art honed over the years. If you were to select the right rock for the purpose, it would mean searching the river bed for the millions of rocks and pebbles which exist. Do you know how you would even start the process?

Few more details on this exist on the website of Gram Disha Trust -

This documentation is an ode to the crafts person of the mountains and the interlink with the farmers. Do share this knowledge far and wide, for as with all such knowledge - it must, set you free!

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Postscript

Gharat (In Ladakhi these are called - Chutae Rantak*) of Zanskar (near Karcha Gompa) - Grinding Roasted Barley Tsampa Flour.

This is an older style gharat where components and joinery is made of wood, still functional even after many years of operation. Here is a good reference Paper on Rantaks of Ladakh/Kargil/Zanskar, it describes the hardships that the community happily endures making, moving and installing the grindstones, in this linkage Animal Husbandsmen play a role with the Dzos as well. The use of suitable local available wood varieties - willow and juniper - hold interest in terms of localization of resources. On matters of wit in culture - do read and amuse yourself about what the lamentations of Rantak Rdoney mean!!

*Thank you to @ZiauddinDarokhan for reminder on the name in Ladakhi.

[2023 - Update]

In Kashmir these are known as Aab-E-Gharatee (translated from Persian as Water-Gharat).