History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c32.s2.t9.30

v1.c32.s2.t9.30

(i) *With counterweight*: There were in practice in ancient India two types of balanced-bucket which by its operation and design was semi-mechanical; one was efficiently performed with counterweight, and the other one balanced by the weight of human body. It has been severally known in different countries to mean this semi-mechanical device, e.g. *shadoof* (Egypt), *dāliya* (Iraq), *picotaḥ* (South India), *lāt* (some parts of Northern India) and so on (Forbes, II, p. 32). It is generally known in South India as *etta* or *ettamaram* while in the Kannada districts it is called the *rāṭaṇam* (Sharada Raju, 1941, p. 116). In the Tamil speaking areas during the period under review, *ettapulam* and *ettapāḍam* are the terms used to specify the lands irrigated by means of *picotaḥ*. Wells fitted with such water-lifts for irrigating the fields were also known as *puttai-k-kinaru*. This is confirmed by a record of the Cola Rajendra I (*SII*, V, No. 489, l.4).