The Early History of the Deccan (Parts I–XI) v1.c6.s3.t3: Lakes
The Early History of the Deccan (Parts I–XI) v1.c6.s3.t3
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Lakes
v1.c6.s3.t3.1
For a territory of the dimensions of the Deccan the number of lakes is not large. Two lakes, namely the Lake of the Five Nymphs (pañchāpsarotaṭaka), associated with Māṇḍakarṇi or Śātakarṇi,³ and the Pampāsaras, apparently the same as Pampāsāgara, the name of which survives in Hampasāgar in the Hūvinahadagalli tāluk, Bellāry District, on the Tuṅgabhadrā, are mentioned in the Rāmāyaṇa. A great lake (mahātaras) in Veṅgi-maṇḍala is mentioned in the Chellūr Plates of Kulottuṅga-Choḍa-deva II¹ and apparently also in the Pīthāpuram inscription of Pṛthvīśvara.² Kielhorn identifies it, as well as the jalam Kaunālam,³ ‘the water of Kunāla’, with the well-known Kolleru or Colair Lake between the rivers Godāvarī and Kṛṣṇā. The lagoon known as the Chilkā Lake (Chilkā-samudra)⁴ and that styled Pulicat lie outside the boundaries of our Deccan. But within the boundaries of the Hyderabad State and elsewhere we have a number of pools artificially dammed up for irrigation and water supply. The most important are the Pākhāl and Rāmappā Lakes in the Waraṅgal District, beside a large number of sāgars or tanks of immense size constructed in the time of the Quṭbshāhī kings and their successors belonging to the house of Aṣaf Jāh. The Pākhāl Lake was built by throwing a dam across the Pākhāl river which here cuts its way between two hills. The great sheet of water covers an area of nearly thirteen square miles. From the lake flows the river Muner, possibly the Maudgalya of a Gārla inscription, which flows into the river Kṛṣṇā. The Rāmappā Lake in the Parkāl tāluk of Karimnagar is famous for the temples that adorn its neighbourhood. They are of the same type as the great temple at Hanamkoṇḍa but more profusely sculptured.
v1.c6.s3.t3.2
³ Rāmāyaṇa, iii, 11; Raghuvamśa, xiii, 38.
v1.c6.s3.t3.3
¹ Indian Antiquary, xiv, 57; Ep. Ind., vi, 3.
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² Ibid., iv, 51.
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³ Ibid., vi, 6.
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⁴ Ibid., v, 56.
v1.c6.s3.t3.7
In the Bombay Presidency the kuṇḍs or holy pools in the bed of the Godāvarī near Nāsik do not deserve the name of lakes. We have in Ahmadnagar the Bhātadi lake on a feeder of the Sinā which is itself an affluent of the Bhīmā. In the Sholāpur District we have a number of artificial lakes at Koregāon, Ashti (near Paṇḍharpur), and Ekruk, only five miles from Sholāpur town.
Cites (1)
- Vālmīkirāmāyaṇa — Vālmīki, Sanskrit