History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c24.s6.29

v1.c24.s6.29

The Vedic literature implies a clear knowledge of wells and water being drawn from them (RV. I.116.9). RV. X.101.5, as translated by Griffith, reads: “Arrange the buckets in their place; securely fasten on the straps. We will pour forth the well that hath a copious stream, fair-flowing well that never fails.” Verse 7 of this hymn (*RV.* X. 101.7) has been translated by S.A. Dange (p.11) more effectively than by Griffith: “Sprinkle out this well, that is drinkable for men, which is endowed with the wooden containers fitted with stone wheel and wherein the reservoir is provided with a top guard.” Dange, however, envisages an ordinary well and does not suggest that the buckets were joined to form a chain. Ghurye (p. 226) sees in the passage a reference to the modern Rahat, but does not use the name. This, in any case, could have been noria and not the Persian wheel, because of the absence of a reference to the operation of the device by the bulls and to the gearing system (Gopal 1980, pp. 153-154). The significance of another passage (*RV.* X. 102.11) has been not been precisely analysed. The term *kucakra* occurring in it is taken by Dange (p.11) to refer to a water-wheel, a device of circular jars. It is not unlikely that it signifies a wheel with earthen jars attached to it (Gopal, 1980, pp. 154-159).