Dhunge dhara
Dhunge dharas are part of a comprehensive drinking water supply system, commissioned by various rulers of Ancient and Medieval Nepal.
And several modern elements have been added to Alko Hiti, like a water tower, underground pipes, rainwater recharge pits and ponds.
[17][18] In March 2021, a start was made by the Department of Mines and Geology with using Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) to track down lost dhunge dharas.
[22][23] Hitimangas are ubiquitous in Nepal, not only on hitis, but also on vajras (ritual weapons), toranas (traditional door and window ornaments) and other architectural elements.
[6] In the cities, due to the natural flow of water (see below), the spouts are located in a basin below street level (hitigah), with the depth depending on need.
The sides and bottom of the basin are made waterproof by coating them with a layer of kalo mato (a special type of black mud).
[7] Similarly a low wall around the basin helps to keep surface runoff out and prevents debris from being carried in by the wind.
From there it is transported to the basin of the dhunge dhara through underground pipes (hiti du), made of terracotta, wood or clay.
[6] Before the water enters the spout, it passes a filter system, using gravel, sand, charcoal and sometimes lapsi (Nepali hog plum).
[35] Later, hitis were connected to a system of canals and ponds, which brought fresh water from the foothills of Kathmandu Valley to the cities.
In one case, Alko Hiti in Patan, three sources were confirmed during restoration, but in others the users have merely noticed a difference in taste or colour of the water between the spouts.
[6][11][12] During the Kirata Kingdom (c. 900 BC-300 AD) ponds (named pukhu or pokhari) were constructed as a source of water in the old cities of the Kathmandu Valley.
[41] King Jitamitra Malla constructed a state canal in 1678 to feed stone spouts located in Bhaktapur and Patan.
[6][10][26] According to the report "A Comparative Evaluation of Stone Spout Management Systems in Heritage and non-Heritage Areas of Kathmandu Valley, Nepal" by Mira Tripathi (2016), some of the people interviewed told her that: When they dug out the water network they found flaming small earthen pots covered by another earthen pot as a lid... with nuts and coins above the spout.
[6] Hitis with a large enough flow (litres per minute) can be vital in case of a fire, especially in densely built parts of the city where a firetruck would not be able to go.
[9] Art historian Percy Brown describes a series of drinking fountains, built "every few miles" on the road from the Terai to Kathmandu, in his book Picturesque Nepal (1912).
Living near the hiti and maybe paying regular visits to it as users, they were best placed to discover problems, like damage to the masonry, pollution with debris or clogging of the drain, and perform repairs.
[9] Each year Sithi Nakha, a day dedicated to Kumar Kartikeya, one of the two sons of Hindu deity Shiva, is used to clean water sources like wells, ponds and hitis.
The Bunga Dyah Jatra in Patan is one example; all the ponds that are involved in the festival need to be filled with water, before the construction of the chariot at Pulchok can begin.
A municipal building was built on the site of Paleswan Pukhu in Patan, greatly reducing its size, and one pond became a bus station.
Jhanga Hiti in Kathmandu, for example, a dhungedhara just north west of Rani Pokhari, was built over with a clubhouse for a local football club.
In other cases the water level in the aquifer has dropped due to the digging of private wells by individual houseowners or industries.
[84] This continued water shortage has led to several initiatives to investigate the possibilities of reviving the old systems in the Kathmandu Valley, some of them recommending that the Declaration of the National Convention on Stone Spouts of 2007 (DNCSS 2007) be implemented.
The reports all stress the necessity of working hitis to supplement the drinking water supply, although they differ in their assessment of how difficult achieving this would be.
[104] Bhaju Pukhu, a pond that has recently been established as being much older than Rani Pokhari but is in many ways very similar, incurred serious damage in a 1681 earthquake and had since never been restored.
[88] In 2016 a rajkulo used for irrigation in Bidur Municipality, Nuwakot, that had been damaged in 2015, was repaired and improved by the Community For Business Development and Promotion Society (COBDEPS).
This man joked about the depth of the hiti, saying that anyone who would descend the steps to drink, would have to bring some food with them to build up their strength to climb back up again.
[130] The inner workings of the dhunge dhara system in Kathmandu are an essential part of the plot in the story The Case of Hodgson's Ghost from the 2003 detective novel The Oriental Casebook of Sherlock Holmes by Ted Riccardi.
The structures in Sri Lanka differ from the dhunge dharas of Nepal in that the basins themselves are designed to hold the water for a longer period of time instead of draining it away immediately.
Another structure is the tutedhara or jahru (jarun, jaladroni), a (usually) covered drinking water reservoir built out of stone with a tap that can be opened and closed.
