History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c32.s2.t2.2

v1.c32.s2.t2.2

Much attention was paid to the proper location of tanks and dams. The *Mahābhārata* (Roy, Eng.Tr. II, p. 14) stresses that large tanks and lakes should be constructed at proper distances. Manu, the Law giver, advocates that dams, wells, tanks and *prasarvaṇas* should be built where boundaries meet (*MS*, VIII, 248; vide also Eng.Tr by Buhler). As their locations were vulnerable to attacks by the enemies the idea of locating them on the boundary lines was not advocated by Kauṭilya. He recommends that the tanks and dams should be constructed in the centre of a province or village (*AŚ*, III, 51, Shamasastry, 1961). Tiruvalluvar in his *Tirukkuṛal*; ‘Sacred Couplets’ (22.5; vide Eng.tr. Pope, 1886) compares wealth in the hands of the liberal minded people to the water in the Central tank and this confirms that tanks were located at the central place for all to benefit, such public tanks were known in Tamil Ūruṇi-kuḷam (drinking water pond for public).