History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c24.s6.33

v1.c24.s6.33

The *Arthaśāstra* (II. 1.20-22, 39) requires the king to construct reservoir filled with water either perennial or drawn from some other sources. He is to provide sites, roads, timber and other necessary materials to people undertaking the cooperative construction of irrigational and other works. He is advised to maintain those constructed earlier and to provide for new ones. The actual implementation of this advice is confirmed by the fact that even in the outlying province of Gujarat Puṣyagupta, the governor of Candragupta, the Maurya king, constructed a reservoir 240 cubits long, just as many broad and 72 cubits deep, and later on it was restored and adorned with conduits. We have epigraphic evidence to trace the history of this tank from the times of Candragupta Maurya and Aśoka to Rudradāman, the Śaka Kṣatrapa, and Skandagupta and to note how it was carefully maintained on account of its usefulness.