History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c32.s1.13

v1.c32.s1.13

The credit for launching large irrigation works goes to the early Cola king Karikāla (c. first century A.D.). The important achievement in his life time was the taming of the Kaveri by building the flood banks, cutting the inundation canals and strengthening the river embankments. This is testified by more than one inscription of the later period (EI, XI. No. 35, pp. 337-346; SII, III, pp. 249-50; ASSI, IV, p.217; TRV, III, pp. 154-155). In effect his pioneering activity successfully prevented the annual inundations for nearly fifteen centuries. Moreover, the lead given by him was followed by a number of other rulers who ruled the Tamil country in the succeeding centuries.