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History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c32.s2.t8: Wells

History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c32.s2.t8

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English

Wells

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Well is a place where water comes from underground. Almost in all possible nook and corner of every village in India one finds the use of a well for irrigation and drinking purposes. Well irrigation no doubt extends the distribution network but slowly. However, it was common in those days, as it is today, to have a well dug in the midst of fields. Well water was utilised in the areas where the tank or canal irrigation was impossible or totally absent.

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The discovery of a large number of wells within the housing complex at Mohenjo-daro points to the importance of well-water for domestic and ritualistic purpose. The occurrence of the word avata meaning a well repeatedly in the Ṛgveda (RV. I. 55.8; IV. 17.16; VIII. 49.6; X. 25.4) shows that the vedic farmers had known the method of digging wells. Such wells are described as unfailing (akṣita) and full of water (RV. X. 101.6).

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Sometimes those wells appear to have been used for irrigation purposes, the water being led off into broad channels, sūrmi susirā (RV. VIII. 69.12; Macdonell & Keith, 1, pp. 39-40). Deep sunk wells whose bottom looks dark due to their depth are mentioned in the Jaiminīya-Brāhmaṇa (I. 292), a work related to Sāmaveda.

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In the days of the Mauryan rulers, the farmers had to pay a revenue tax of 1/4 of the produce for using wells fitted with machines (AS. II. 24.117; see also Shama sastry, Eng. tr. 1967, p. 131). Pāṇini’s Aṣṭādhyāyī (IV. 2.73-74) mentions two types of wells: karkaṇḍu and sakandu. He also mentions wells on the banks of the river Vipāsā (Beas). Those dug on the right bank of the river were permanent wells, and those on the left bank were temporary ones subject to annual inundations.

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In the early Tamil anthologies the expressions such as kūval, kulam, kiṇaru, ūruṇi, vāvi, keṇi and so on are mentioned to signify a well (Maṇimekalai. VII.76; Tirukkural, No. 523; Puraṉāṉūru, line, 132-133; Paṭṭiṉappālai, line, 244, see also Aiyangar 1928). These terms were evidently used to indicate variations in size and economic importance. One of the oldest regions in South India is the Koṅgu region (modern Salem and Coimbatore districts of Tamil Nadu). Although this region was watered by the Kaveri and its numerous tributaries, water scarcity was felt very much at all times. "The skill and energy with which the people of Kongu sunk very deep wells and brought out water by breaking hard rocks with their pickaxes drew the admiration of the ancient bards who celebrated them in their songs.

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The wells supplemented to a great extent the limited water-supply of the people to convert arid tracts into arable land" (Subrahmanya Aiyar, K.V. II, p. 45). The Tamil epic, Manimekalai, mentions a well (endirak-kiṇaru) which was provided with filling and discharging pipes for conveying water (Maṇimekalai, XIX. 102, see also Aiyangar, 1928).

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The lithic records from the north refer to two distinct types of wells - kūpa and vapi; the former is an ordinary well, while the latter appears to have been equipped with flights of steps and used for a tank of the smallest size. The South Indian records mention specific names to denote the wells the purpose for which they were put into utility - pānīya-kūpa (drinking water well), uruṇi-kulam (public water tanks), tirumañjana kulam (sacred tanks for use by the temples), puravai and kiṇaru (ordinary well), puṭṭai-k-kiṇaru (wells fitted with water-lifts) turavu (large wells for irrigation) and so on (EI. VIII. p. 145; SII, II. Nos. 4, 5, and 445; IPS. No. 156; SII. III. No 4; III. p. 102). The paṭṭiṉappālai (Chelliah, 1947, p. 48), one of the Tamil anthologies, records that in the outskirts of the city of Kāveripūmpaṭṭiṇam the inside of wells (urai-kiṇaru) were covered with baked clay instead of being built with stones. It is interesting to note from the Kannada inscriptions that the charity wells set apart for thirsty way-farers and cattle were specifically names as arabāvi (SII. XVII. No. 58. p. 68).

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According to the Dharma Śāstras, the man-made receptacles are of four types kūpa, vāpi, puskarinī and taḍaga. The kūpa as a well is from five to fifty cubits in length (if rectangular) or in diameter (if circular). It has generally no flight of steps to reach the water. Vāpi is a well with a flight of steps on all four sides or on three or two sides or one side only and its mouth may be from 50 to 100 cubits; a puṣkariṇī is from 100 to 200 cubits in length or diameter and a taḍaga (a tank) is from 200 to 800 cubits. The Matsya Purāṇa states that a vāpi is equal to ten kūpas in merit (Kane, 1973, II, p. 893).

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The Viśvakarma Vāstuśāstram (p. 51) clearly describes the vāpis. "Small tanks (vāpis) may be square, rectangular or circular in shape and their dimensions may be from 3 to 10 daṇḍas. It is enclosed by walls and has springs on all the four sides.

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They are built down to a depth of about 10 cubits below the spring. They are also provided with bathing ghāṭs on all the four sides suitable for sporting in water. On one side of the tank shall be built a water-lifting device”.

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Water-divination: If we are to take water divination as part of well irrigation, then we may say that water-divination is an important and independent science practised in ancient India to locate and avail the water sources from the subterranean region. The expression dakārgala means a branch of science dealing with water locked up or imprisoned in the bowls of the earth. Those who practised this science were known as kūpadarśakas. They leaked out a living by private practice for they paid taxes. It is believed that they might have been working as inspectors of wells in those days.

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Varāhamihira’s Bṛhat Saṃhitā (Brh.S. pt.1, ch.LIV. pp.499-526 (Eng tr.) by V.Subrahmanya Sastri and M.R.Bhat, 1947) prescribes certain asterisms that are beneficial for sinking wells: They are Rohiṇī, Puṣyā, Maghā, the three uttaras (Uttaraphalgunī, Uttaraṣadhā and Uttarabhādrapadā), Hasta, Anurādhā, Dhaniṣṭhā and Satabhiṣaj. The author gives effects of sinking wells in the different quarters of a village or town. He says that wells sunk in quarters other than south-east, south-west, north-west, would lead to auspicious results.

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As far as our evidence goes, the wells discovered at Mohenjo-daro are the finest examples from the point of structural details. Water for domestic use was mainly derived from them. Every house had a well of its own. A public well was frequently placed in a cul-de-sac between two houses. The exposed wells are generally circular. Considerable variation is seen in the diameter of the wells and the sizes of the bricks used to construct them. Generally, the wells were 3 to 4 feet in diameter. The bricks used in the construction of wells were moulded and burnt and are uniformly wedge-shaped. The wider end of the bricks in the steening of wells were carefully curved so as to present a smooth surface on the outside of the well. Mud mortar was the only cement used to bind the bricks. The pavements of bricks laid around the wells generally sloped towards a drain at one corner to allow waste water to run away. In many cases the top of the well only projected above the floor of the chamber in which it was situated, and an edging of brick around it served to prevent waste water from re-entering the well.

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In some of the private wells the water may have been lifted by some form of windlass, since there are no friction marks on the coping, which are clearly seen in most of the public wells. On the other hand, the private wells are generally small in diameter and water could be lifted from them by the drawer standing straddle-legged over the well (Marshall, I, pp. 269-70).

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Among the numerous extant wells in the South, the best preserved example is the Mārpiḍugu-perun-kinaru (ANRIE, No. 541, 1905; 1905-06, pp. ii. para 4, p. 63; SII, XII. No. 40, p. 16; EI, XI, p. 145) at Tiruvellarai (Fig.4), 14 miles to the north-east of Tiruchirapalli (Tamil Nadu). The well, now popularly known as the Nālumūlaik-keṇi (four-pronged well), is very interesting from the point of view of history and antiquity. The construction work was commenced in the fourth year and completed in the fifth year of the Pallava Dantivarman (A.D. 799-800). The shape of the well is in the pattern of a Svastika with four entrances facing the four directions. From each entrance a flight of steps leads to the interior of the well. The inner face of each of the portals, the outer wall and the margin of the well are constructed out of dressed granite blocks. The capacity of the well is judged by the time taken for its construction. Its size, 37 sq. feet, suggests that it was used both for supplying water to the temple and irrigating the devadāna lands. The well was repaired in the thirteenth century as it had suffered considerable damage from floods and other natural causes. Though the inscriptions record the repairs done to it, the well does not appear to have undergone any major structural change. Even now the well is being used for irrigation and domestic purposes.

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Fig.4. Mārpiḍugu-perunkiṇaru (big well), (photo courtesy: Dept. of Archaeology, Government of Tamil Nadu)

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