The Khazan is a traditional farming system of
Goa, India. It comprises mainly
rice-fish fields established on relciamed
coastal wetlands,
salt marshes and
mangrove forest
Mangrove forests, also called mangrove swamps, mangrove thickets or mangals, are productive wetlands that occur in coastal intertidal zones. Mangrove forests grow mainly at tropical and subtropical latitudes because mangroves cannot withstand fr ...
s. It involves construction of
levee
A levee (), dike (American English), dyke (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English), embankment, floodbank, or stop bank is a structure that is usually soil, earthen and that often runs parallel (geometry), parallel to ...
s and
sluice gates to prevent
sea water
Seawater, or salt water, is water from a sea or ocean. On average, seawater in the world's oceans has a salinity of about 3.5% (35 g/L, 35 ppt, 600 mM). This means that every kilogram (roughly one liter by volume) of seawater has approx ...
from entering the fields.
The Bandora (Bandiwade)
copper-plate inscription of Anirjita-varman (likely a
Konkan Maurya king), dated to 5th-6th century on palaeographical grounds, refers to the khazan system as ''khajjana''. It records the grant of tax-exempt land in Dwadasa-desha (modern
Bardez), including one ''hala'' (a unit) of ''khajjana'' land. The recipient of the grant was expected to convert this wetland into a cultivated field by constructing a
bund to prevent the salty sea water from entering the land.
Historically, an association of villagers (''gaunkari''s) maintained the local khazan fields and its associated levees. This system continued under the
Portuguese rule
The Portuguese Empire ( pt, Império Português), also known as the Portuguese Overseas (''Ultramar Português'') or the Portuguese Colonial Empire (''Império Colonial Português''), was composed of the overseas colonies, factories, and the l ...
, with
communidades maintaining the khazan system through an association of farmers (''bhou''s or ''bhau''s).
References
Bibliography
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Flood control in India
Coastal construction
Wetlands of India