This is the first time that such an in-depth study has been conducted on this subject. After The Gazetteer of the Province of Sindh by E.H. Aitkin (1907), no one seems to have taken pains to study this topic threadbare. I have purposely given the relevant notifications issued from time to time, in the hope that it will be useful to future researchers, scholars, historians, and departments seeking to know the historical background of water rate (abiana) in Sindh, as in the past different methods seem to have been adopted, and, furthermore, no accurate analysis has come to light. It was not an easy task to lay hands on all the notifications, and I had to delve deep into the archives.

     Water rate or abiana has a long and chequered history. The irrigation system along the Indus seems to be as old as its civilization It underwent numerous changes, from Simple flood irrigation to the modern irrigation system. It Was scientifically established a century ago when diversion hydraulic structures were built on the rivers and the canal heads. Some of the most pioneering works on canal design were done in the Subcontinent.

     The earliest water-lifting device in ancient Sindh was the boka (leather water-bucket) which was known in Harappan times. The pulley was not known in those days; the boka therefore was pulled up from the well by a long lever hinged over an inverted U-frame fixed in the ground, or over a tripod similarly fixed. The limitation to lift was the height of the U-frame on its tripod. Ordinarily, it could not be over ten feet. The multiple pulley was known in Mesopotamia around 900 BC; the simple pulley was a much earlier innovation. The boka operated by animal power was developed for irrigation during the Declining Indus Culture. The animal power used in Sindh may have been oxen to start with. Camels may have been used from around 1000 BC.

     The boka seems to have been adopted from Central India. It has an advantage over the Persian wheel in that it does not spill water back into the well. It is shaped like a tea kettle, and in its modem form, is raised or lowered from the top by a rope over a pulley. When the bag passes over the level of a smaller pulley, lower than the first, the spout is pulled horizontally and the water rushes out from the spout into the outlet already built. This writer has very recently seen the boka being used by the desert people of District Tharparkar. In the local terminology, it is called charhi.

     The Persian wheel is a much later development. Low-lift wheels may have been developed before high-lift wheels. The Persian wheel has a limitation in that it cannot work satisfactorily beyond a 30 foot depth without reducing the weight of the buckets. The boka is much more efficient than the Persian wheel. The Persian wheel may have reached Sindh during the Scythian or Parthian eras, 84 BC to AD 67, most probably after the beginning of the Common Era. The low-lift Persian wheel is one of the most efficient of the ancient water lifting devices. The use of the Persian wheel was common before the British

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