History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c32.s2.t6.5

v1.c32.s2.t6.5

The unabated technical skill of the tank builders in ancient India will be fully realised if one could make an in situ study of some of the tanks which still exists even to this day to afford irrigation facilities. A.F.Cox in North Arcot District Manual describes the Mahendra Taṭāka excavated by the Pallava Mahendravarman I in Mahendravāḍi (North Arcot District) thus: "The bunk (manmade embankment), is enormously high and might be restored to its original height, in which case a great extent of land could be brought under irrigation" (Cox, II. pp. 438 ff.). The tank at Kaveripakkam constructed by the Pallava Nandivarman III (c. 844-856 A.D.) is the largest tank in the same above mentioned district. Its extensiveness is exhibited by a "bund about four miles stretching from North to South" (Cox, II. pp. 438 ff). The bunk of the Viranam tank created by the Cola Parāntaka I is ten miles in length, and has mean width of above 3 miles. The large irrigation reservoir "Colagaṅgam" created by the Cola Rajendra I near the capital in the Tiruchirapalli district has an embankment of sixteen miles long running from north to south and provided with several sluices and channels for the irrigation of a large area (Nilakantha Sastri, 1955, p. 234).