The Early History of the Deccan (Parts I–XI) v2.c15.s3.t5.3

Language: English

v2.c15.s3.t5.3.1

It must, however, be noted here that the State undertook no direct responsibility for the construction and maintenance of irrigation works. No mention of a public-works department or of officials directly appointed with the duty of carrying out irrigation projects is to be found in any of the records of the period. The construction of a tank was regarded as an act of charity which would acquire great religious merit, and as a matter of fact the building of such tanks is included as one of the sapta-saṃtānas or seven acts of righteousness which would perpetuate the name of the doer and establish his fame permanently in the world.¹ The merit accruing from the construction of such tanks is clearly set forth in an inscription of the early 16th century which is of much interest in this connexion: ‘the Gods, men, pitṛis, the gandharvas, uragas, rākṣasas, and the permanent bhūtas, all depend on a tank. The person in whose tank men, beasts, and birds quench their thirst by drinking its water acquires the same merit as attaches to the performance of an aśvamedha. The pita of the excavator of a tank rejoices, the pitāmaha dances (with delight), and even the pitṛis of his cognates join him.’² Influenced profoundly by this belief, the kings and the sāmantas, the nobles and officials, religious leaders, merchants, and wealthy men in general all busied themselves in the construction of tanks, and thus the whole country was provided with an adequate irrigational system.

v2.c15.s3.t5.3.2

Bēta II is the first Kākatīya monarch whose name is associated in our records with the construction of tanks. He appears to have undertaken the building of two tanks called Seṭṭi-kere and Kēsari-samudra and to have performed in that connexion the ceremony of Varuṇa-pratiṣṭhā or the installation of Varuṇa, the presiding deity of the waters, to ensure that his reservoirs might always be full.³ Rudra constructed an enormous and wonderful tank in the centre of the city of Chōḍōdaya which he had destroyed.⁴ Gaṇapati, if the Pratāpacharitra can be trusted, built several tanks in different parts of his kingdom, at Nellore the Telugu Chōḷa capital in the south, at Ellore in the Kṛiṣṇā-Gōdāvarī delta, at Gaṇapuram on the banks of the Gaṅgā (i.e., the Gōdāvarī), at Gaṇapuram in the south-west of Ekaśilānagaram (Warangal), and at Vidasa to the west of the same city. Similarly, Pratāparudra is credited with the construction of a big tank somewhere in the region about Pākhal.⁵ This last statement, however, is not borne out by evidence of a trustworthy character. Even more than kings and royal personages did the nobles and officials in their service take great interest in promoting irrigation schemes. Two noble families of Teliṅgāṇa, viz. the Malyālas and the Rēcherlas, deserve special mention in this connexion, since many of the surviving tanks which secured the name of the ‘tank-district’ for the region in later ages were the fruits of their enterprise and activity.

v2.c15.s3.t5.3.3

The Chāvuṇḍa-samudram, Bācha-samudram (Bas-samudram), Gaṇapa-samudram, Kuppa-samudram, Buddhuni-kuṇṭa, Kuppāmba-kālva, Pōlreḍḍi-kālva, Reḍḍi-kālva, Dādla-kālva, and the great tank at Pākhal were all excavated by the Malyālas,¹ whilst the Sabba-samudram, Nāma-samudram, Viśvanātha-samudram, Gaura-samudram, Erra-samudram, Lakumā-samudram, Kuḍikuḍiya-cheruvu, Katyāre-cheruvu, Nērēḍla-cheruvu, Erramarāju-kuṇṭa were constructed by the Rēcherlas.² In the South, the Kāyastha princes, especially Ambadēva and his subordinates, similarly increased the prosperity of the country by providing it with fresh irrigation facilities. Ghōḍeyarāya Gaṅgayadēva, the famous mahāpradhāna of Ambadēva, caused two tanks called Amba-samudram to be excavated in the name of his master at Bali(Ōbali) and Uṭukūru respectively. He also had a canal called Rāyasahasramalla-kālva dug from the bed of the river (Cheyyēru) at Lēmbāka, and another named Gaṇḍapeṇḍāra-kālva excavated at Tāḍlapāka.³ And again Śāntaśiva Dēśika, the rāyaguru, caused a tank called Gaṇapa-samudram to be constructed at Gaṇapāpuram.⁴