The Early History of the Deccan (Parts I–XI) v2.c15.s3.t5.14

v2.c15.s3.t5.14

The most important piece of work in the construction of a tank was always the erection of an embankment strong enough to withstand the pressure of the water impounded in it. This was a comparatively easy task and naturally involved less trouble and expense in the hilly tracts than in level country. Whereas in mountainous country a group of hills could be easily joined together, as for instance at Buddhapuri, by means of a bund made of stones piled on one another,⁵ it was necessary in the level plain to throw up earth banks all round the tank bed. In some places rows of trees called kaṭṭava were planted on or by the side of the tank-bund, evidently with a view to adding to its strength.⁶ Unfortunately no details of the means adopted by the tank builders in the accomplishment of their task are described in any records of which we have knowledge. There is reason to believe that, in some cases at least, they directly employed labourers and paid them wages in cash. In an inscription dated Śaka 1215 (A.D. 1293) at Tripurāntakam in the Kurnool district, it is stated that the construction of a tank called Kumāra-samudram involved an expenditure of 241 māḍas whilst two other tanks, both named Tripurā-samudram, cost 7-7 māḍas and 156 māḍas respectively.⁸ The items of expenditure mentioned in this record were obviously incurred for the payment of wages to the labourers employed in the work of constructing the said tanks. But doubtless the practice of *daśabandha*, so popular with the tank-builders of the age of the Rāyas of Vijayanagara, cannot have been altogether unknown in the earlier period. According to this method the construction of the tanks was entrusted to persons who had to execute the work and to maintain the tank in good repair after its completion at their own expense. As a set-off they were granted tax-free one tenth of the area of the land irrigated by the tanks constructed by them, as a remuneration for their work. There is, however, no direct evidence to show that this practice was prevalent in the Kākatīya times.