An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c19.s14: 14.14 Water Reservoirs
An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c19.s14
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14.14 Water Reservoirs
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Specific evidence for artificial moulding of water through reservoirs is not forthcoming in the Harappa civilization [4.9] except the Great Bath at Mohenjo-daro (Marshall, 1931, 1, pp. 131-50), but certainly the Harappa economy, like the Egyptian and Babylonian ones, rested on irrigation farming [16.1]. The brick dockyard of LOTHAL with its massive embankment walls measuring 212·4 m on the w., 209·3 m on the e., 34·7 m on the s. and 36·4 m on the n. is a unique structure. In the early Chalcolithic [4.14.6] contexts at INAMGAON an embankment wall, 2·2 m wide, of rubble set in mud mortar has been traced to a length of 240 m. This formed part of a tank which was provided with a feeder channel connected to the river close by.
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In peninsular India much of the irrigation right from the Neolithic period [4.6.7-10] was by means of rainwater ponds and water-reservoirs, while in the n. the stress was more on ‘regulation canals’, linked to the rivers, which were largely perennial but were also perilous. In the s. one notices a sudden emergence without any antecedents of such traits as the construction of megaliths and reservoir irrigation [4.17]. The farming systems crystallized in the n. in the early part of the second half of the 1st millennium B.C., as seen from the references to dams (*setu*) in the *Dharma-śāstras* and *Artha-śāstra* and evidenced by the existence of a large rain-fed reservoir of the NBPW period [4.16] at ROPAR. They descended deep into the s. and set a model to the early rulers like the Cera-Coḷas, Pāṇḍyas and Pallava-Kadambas, not to speak of the Sātavāhanas. Site 93 of NAGARJUNAKONDA, under the Ikṣvākus, ‘had two ornamental tanks, provided with underground drains, besides a number of wells and paved cisterns .... The square stepped tank with arrangement for overflow of water—the extra water was diverted through a passage on the top joining a very long underground drain—had originally a wooden superstructure adorned internally with lamps, hooks, and so on .... Close to it on the s. was a tortoise-shaped tank connected with an underground drain on either side with two square wells and soak-pits.’ (Sarkar and Misra, 1972, p. 20).
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The Hathigumpha inscription of Khāravela on the UDAYAGIRI-KHANDAGIRI hills mentions the construction of embankments to several deep and cool tanks, restoration of gardens, etc. in the very first year of his accession. The Girnar (Junagadh) rock inscriptions provide a graphic account of the great Sudarśana-taḍāka which was built by Rastriya Puṣyagupta with earthen and stone embankment during the reign of Chandragupta Maurya. It gave way before a devastating storm but was repaired by Mahākṣatrapa Rudradāman (A.D. 150). After another collapse it was repaired again in the reign of Skandagupta (Fleet, 1888, p. 56; Mehta, 1968, p. 20). A Kanheri record (2nd century) refers to the construction of a reservoir by one Seṭhi Puṇaka.
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[At Kankali-tila, the site of the ancient Jaina *stūpa* at MATHURA, an impressive tank complex, 35 × 35 m, of Pd IV, 1st to 3rd century A D. has been exposed. Made of baked bricks of various sizes, e.g. 40 × 26 × 5 cm, 38 × 26 × 5 cm and 30 × 15 × 5 cm, the tank is cut into the natural soil to a depth of about 3·96 m from the original ground surface; it mainly consists of a central pool, 9·10 × 8·10 m, attached to a ramp amidst its e. side and oblong and irregular ancillary compartments on the long the n. and s. sides. On the top of the n. wall of the tank a stone channel has been found fixed for the purpose of filling it up with water. Near the outer end of the ramp leading to the tank is a well sealed as a result of the subsequent extension of the passage attached to the ramp in the third phase of the construction of the tank. It shows four phases of construction. Of first phase only a few basal courses of bricks of the main tank are extant; the major portion of the superstructure indicating an almost, complete reconstruction belongs to second phase; the ramp was added in the third phase and the shabby irregular structures in the top were added in the fourth. The date of its first phase may be dated to in the first half of the 1st century A.D. and the fourth to the early phase of Pd V. (Information from M.C. Joshi.) See also UJJAIN.]
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Rao unearthed at KĀVERĪPAṬṬIṆAM a water reservoir at the site known as Vanagiri in the levels of the 2nd century A.D. This had an inlet channel also connected with the river Kaveri. Besides an I-shaped massive brick building, built of unusually large baked bricks, 60×20×12 cm, and identified as a wharf [14.8], is dated to *c.* 200 B.C.
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Construction of tanks was common during the Kadamba (Panchamukhi, 1974, p. 50) and Pallava periods. The Kadamba king Ravivarman built a tank in the village Variyakā, whereas Kākusthavarman excavated a reservoir (*taḍākani*) at Talagunda. The Chalukya and Rāṣṭrakūṭa records refer to several *taṭākas* and feeder-channels in the Karnataka territory. The Mahendra-taḍāka excavated by Mahendravarman I (580-630), the Parameśvara-taḍāka in Kurram village, Dt Chingleput, dug by Parameśvaravarman I (672-700), the Tenneri reservoir of Nandivarman’s time, the Vairamega-taṭāka at Chitramerur, are noteworthy examples functioning even now.
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Among the rulers of the Deccan, the Kākatiyas, like the Coḷas in the s., created a large and efficient network of irrigation tanks. Notable examples such as the Cāvuṇḍa-samudra, Kesari-taṭāka, Śivapura-taḍāka (Hanumakonda) and the Pakhal, Ghanpur and Ramappa lakes with high embankments and sluices are object lessons to modern engineers (Yazdani, 1960).
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Artificial ponds adjoining temples for ceremonial bathing are a common feature, e.g. at Khajuraho, Bhubaneswar and temple complexes in s. India.
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Fleet, J.F., 1888, *Inscriptions of the Early Gupta Kings & their Successors*, Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum, 3. Marshall; J., 1931, *Mohenjo-daro and the Indus Civilization*, London, 1. Mehta, R.N., 1968, in *Jour. Oriental Inst.*, 18. Panchamukhi, R.S., 1974, in *Studies in Indian Epigraphy*, 1. Sarkar, H., & Misra, B.N., 1972, *Nagarjunakonda*, New Delhi. For sites’ see respective entries in vol. II. — I.K. SARMA