History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c24.s6.68

v1.c24.s6.68

The Kāśyapīyakṛṣisūkti (verses 167-69) gives an account of the devices for lifting water from a well and for using it for irrigating the fields. For raising water a place for fixing the machine is to be made on stone-slabs on the brink of the well, and for the outflow of water a small conduit is to be made on a hard surface near the edge of the well. Of the different kinds of machines for raising water the one drawn by bullocks yoked with strong chains is the best, that by the elephant with its trunk is the mediocre, and the one by human labour is the inferiormost. Water on lower levels in steadily raised to the surface of the wells etc. by the revolution of the water-raising machine. Water is then carried to the fields by means of small channels.