[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Reference works](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference) › [An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.ghosh-1989) › v1.c19.s7 # An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c19.s7: 14.7 Canals and Channels An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c19.s7 - **Language:** English ### 14.7 Canals and Channels ### [v1.c19.s7.1](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.ghosh-1989.v1.c19.s7.1) The early food-producing village cultures \[4.14\] as well as the earliest civilization of the subcontinent \[4.9\] reveal the existence of artificial canals and channels for irrigation and transport. At the Harappa site of LOTHAL an inlet channel 7 m wide has been found connecting a large water reservoir \[14.14\]. INAMGAON has an artificial irrigation channel, 4 m wide and 3·50 m deep, in an early Jorwe culture \[4.14.6\] level. ### [v1.c19.s7.2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.ghosh-1989.v1.c19.s7.2) Vedic and Buddhist and literature and the \*Dharmaśāstras\* and \*Artha-śāstra\* refer to canals and channels. The Hathigumpha inscription of Khāravela (1st century B.C.) narrates the history of an irrigation canal originally excavated by the Magadhan ruler Nanda (4th century B.C.) and extended by Khāravela to his capital. Similarly the Junagadh inscription of Rudradāman gives a graphic account of the Sudarśana lake originally created by Chandragupta Maurya (4th century B.C.) being strengthened and provided with irrigation canals. ### [v1.c19.s7.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.ghosh-1989.v1.c19.s7.3) At BESNAGAR D.R. Bhandarkar traced a storage canal 2·13 m wide, 1·67 m high and 56 m long with brick walls serving as embankments and a flight of descending steps at one point (\*ASI-AR 1914-5\*, p. 69). The brick wall had an inward better and was plastered with super strong lime mortar. At KUMRAHAR a canal, with a width of 13 m and depth of 3 m, is located by the side of the Mauryan pillared hall. It has been conjectured that the canal was connected to the Ganga and was used to transport the huge pillars from the Chunar quarries to the door of the hall. A sunk brick-lined channel of UJJAIN, 11 m wide and 2·59 m deep, has been traced to a length of 45 m. NAGARJUNAKONDA has a multipurpose canal dated to the 3rd century A D , 800 m in length and with an average width of 15·25 m and depth of 2 m. Its bed and embankments were made of rubble and gravel rammed in hard lime to withstand the gush of water, its n. embankment strengthened by a random rubble wall, 1·37 m wide, to prevent the erosion from the hillside. Like the KUMRAHAR canal it was probably a transport canal and also served irrigational operations. ### [v1.c19.s7.4](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.ghosh-1989.v1.c19.s7.4) Inscriptions of s. India are full of references to the construction of tanks, canals and channels and their administrative control and upkeep during the early as well as later historical periods. The feeding channels connecting the Parameśvarataṭāka of the Pallava king Parameśvara (c. 672-700) and the Uyyakonda irrigation channel in Dt Tiruchirappalli of Rājarāja I (985-1013) are examples extant even now. So is a large network of canals (\*kāluvas\*) and sluices (\*tūmus\*), like the Kollipaka (\*Vaṁśavardhana-kāluva\*), Lempaka (\*Rāual-Sahasramalla-kāluva\*) of the times of Kākātīyas, the Koragal channel from the Tungabhadra and the Basavanna channel of the Vijayanagara monarch Śrī Kṛṣṇadevarāya. They are mostly feeder and irrigational canals with sluices, their maintenance and administration alike vesting in hydraulic engineers known as \*jalasūtradas\* (Yazdani, 1960, p. 679). ### [v1.c19.s7.5](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.ghosh-1989.v1.c19.s7.5) Sarma, I.K., 1962, in \*Jour. Indian Hist.\*, 40, pp. 301-12. Yazdani, G., ed., 1960, \*Early History of Deccan\*, London. For other sites see respective entries in vol. II.—I.K. SARMA ## Linked texts (5) - [Kauṭilīya Arthaśāstra](https://indike.org/pramana/in.niti.artha.kautilya) — Kauṭilya, Sanskrit - [Lothal](https://indike.org/pramana/inp.site.lothal) - [Nāgārjunakoṇḍa](https://indike.org/pramana/inp.site.nagarjunakonda) - [Inamgaon](https://indike.org/pramana/inp.site.inamgaon) - [Kumrahar](https://indike.org/pramana/inp.site.kumrahar) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.ghosh-1989.v1.c19.s7](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.ghosh-1989.v1.c19.s7) · Pramāṇa