Local Government in Ancient India c12.23

c12.23

Remedies against breaches in tank-bunds and other similar accidents beyond human control were generally provided by private charity. Thus in A. D. 1189–90, for instance, heavy rains caused breaches in the tank at Somaṅgalam (Chingleput), which were repaired by a chief. There were two breaches next year also repaired by him, but he then made a money endowment, from the interest of which the assembly agreed to carry out the instructions of the donor by depositing a certain specified quantity of earth on the bund annually (no. 183 of 1901). No. 214 of 1911 gives another instance of repairs of damages to irrigation channels caused by the Kāverī floods. No. 417 of 1912 records a private donation by which a bank of stone was constructed and the head of an irrigation channel renovated. No. 404 of 1911 records the meeting of the assembly of a Nāḍu to levy an impost on each village to construct an embankment against the floods.