History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c32.s2.1

v1.c32.s2.1

Epigraphy and literature refer to this systematized practice of irrigation works as *Pāthas-Śāstra*. In Sanskrit *Pāthas* stands for water; as Varuṇa, the Lord of the waters, had borne the name *Pāthas-pathi*, hydrology, which deals with water, was appositely termed *Pāthas-Śāstra* (Mac donell, 1924, p. 160). Although regular treatises on this subject are not presently available, mention of the construction of reservoirs, canals and sluices with day, date and year and the arrangements for the distribution of water therefrom can be gleamed from a large body of inscriptions, copper plate grants and to a certain extent from the literary works. Besides, the works on architecture, the *Viśvakarmā Vāstuśāstram*, also gives an account of the construction of reservoir and wells. It would, therefore, appear that a special treatise on the science of hydrology must have existed in ancient times.¹