History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c32.s2.t5.1

v1.c32.s2.t5.1

Spring channels (*ūrrukkāl* in Tamil and *ūttakālva* in Telugu) were also made use of for irrigating small parcels of arable lands and for collecting drinking water. They were made on river-beds, but the practice was not widespread because the non-availability of sufficient underground water during the hot seasons. Deep furrows were made on river-beds and water thus collected was channelised to the fields. The practice of collecting water from springs was quite prevalent during the days of the Pallavas whose records say that permission was granted to donees to dig *ūrrukkāl* from the beds of the rivers Palar and Vegavati (*SII*. I.p. 151). Even now such channels are found on the beds of the Pālār and other rivers in South India.