A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar c17.19

c17.19

According to the Portuguese chronicler Nuniz, Bukka II and Devarāya greatly extended the city of Vijayanagar, raising fresh walls and towers, and building further lines of fortification. But, says Sewell, their ‘great work was the construction of a huge dam in the Tungabhadra river, and the formation of an aqueduct fifteen miles long from the river into the city. If this be the same channel that to the present day supplies the fields which occupy so much of the site of the old city, it is a most extraordinary work. For several miles this channel is cut out of the solid rock at the base of the hills, and is one of the most remarkable irrigation works to be seen in India.’