The Deccan capitals of

the medieval
period (1300 to
1700 AD)

had extensive
urban water
supply systems.
Unfortunately, all

of them have been destroyed by the modern habitations that

have come up in their place. However, Daulatabad, one of the

earliest Sultanate capitals, is still completely deserted, and

presents a well preserved picture of medieval life and a well

documented chronological picture of urban water supply

development, spread over a period of 500 years.

The Deccan Plateau has only one source of water - the

monsoon. Since the clouds largely empty themselves on the

Western Ghats, there is little rain in western Deccan where the

average rainfall is from 1,000-1,500 mm. It is in this region

where most of the Deccan capital cities were situated, the only

exception being Golconda, which is in Andhra Pradesh. The

Marathwada region in which Daulatabad is located gets only

800-1,000 mm rain. But the water gets drained off through

streams.

The earliest reference to Daulatabad, by its original name

of Deogiri, is in the 10th century copper plates of the Yadava

ruler, Jaitugi, who credits his predecessor, Bhillama the fifth,

with having shifted the capital to Deogiri. The town must

have been in existence before this date as the reference does

not say anything about the founding of the town but it

speaks of the shifting of the capital. In 1290, Alauddin Khilji

defeated the Yadava rulers, and in 1325 Muhammad-bin-

Tughlaq transferred his imperial capital from Delhi to

Daulatabad. This new status gave a changed architectural

milieu to Daulatabad, which is reflected mainly in the

township at the base of the hill, and the extensive

fortification around the hill. By 1350, local dynasties had re-

established themselves ousting the Delhi governors. Under

the Bahmanis, extensive fortifications were constructed. The

Nizam Shahi rulers of Ahmednagar were mainly responsible

for the growth of the township which is today known as

Ambarkot. They also added a small fortified enclosure,

Kalakot, wherein royal palaces were built during the early

16th century. The outer township grew in size and was

protected by a rampart and moats. Mansions were erected by

nobles in this area and the population, as far as its size and

nature are concerned, seems to have established itself by the

middle of the 16th century. Daulatabad, thus, steadily grew from a hill fortress and a small town into
an extensive fort

and town.

It was this fort, the small town of the pre-Bahmani days, and

the new Nizam Shahi township that had to be provided with

water. Moreover, it was not a question of just supplying some

water. The Islamic gentry had inherited from west Asia a way

of life that centred around elaborately constructed baths called

hamams, wherein bathing was not just a daily chore but a

necessary luxury. The rich people had a keen sense of hygiene

and sanitation which needed more water. As a

result, with time, the water supply systems also

became more elaborate.

Water development

The fort has at least four freshwater tanks,

excavated in hard rock. Almost near the top,

there is a fairly large tank. Such freshwater

tanks were a common feature of the forts in the

Deccan and were enough to meet the routine

requirements of the garrison stationed there.

Deogiri town of the pre-Yadava and Yadava

periods occupied roughly the same area as

present day Mahakot.1 This area received its

water from four large wells and a large tank.

The wells were located on the four sides of the

township and the tank or kund was almost in

the centre. Today all wells are fairly deep but

they never dry up.

In the third phase, the area of the Yadava Deogiri was converted into the Mahakot by erecting
stronger

fortifications around it. The kund was enlarged (turning it

into the present day Hathi tank) but the four wells were the

main source of water supply. The Mahakot must have been

sparsely populated as it was more of a military station. Non-

combatants were located outside the Mahakot, in a fairly low-

lying area. To meet their needs, wells were dug in private

houses, many of which are still in existence. To supply water

to these wells, a strong bund was thrown across the mouth of

a large catchment to the north of the Deogiri hill resulting in

a reservoir, later known as Nagartale, the city tank. This

served as a percolation tank and kept the wells in the lower

township supplied with water. The bund was constructed of

large blocks of stones, properly dressed and set in lime

mortar. Today, it is completely silted up. Since there were no

outlets or channels it can be presumed that its sole aim was

to serve as a percolation tank. A small stream flowing down

the hills skirted the township and might have complemented

the wells.

During the later Bahmani rule and early Nizam Shahi

period (latter half of the 15th and the entire period of the 16th

centuries), the population grew. The increasing demand for

water led to the construction of a number of dams from which

water was taken through open and underground channels. It

was an elaborate system. A brick wall was built skirting the

hills and the water flowing down from the slopes was diverted

towards the fort, and then carried through terracotta and stone

pipes embedded in masonry walls to the inner fort or Mahakot

area. There were four pipes, two of stone and two of terracotta.

At the point where the pipeline was to take a sharp turn or a

sharp descent, small tanks in stone and lime mortar were built

to counteract the force of water.

In the valley, about half a kilometre from the Ambarkot

township proper, a series of three bunds were built. The upper

one was built in stone mortar masonry. On its outer side, a row

of 19 arches were built to abut the wall of the bund. The entire

length of this dam was 190 m. Today, the dam is completely

silted up, hiding the upper face of the dam. The second bund

was built 30 m down. It was built of stone and earth, and has

eroded almost completely by now, leaving only some traces

behind. The third bund was an excellent masonry stone dam

which sealed the mouth of the valley to create a large and

beautiful reservoir. The lower lake used to remain full

throughout the year. The selection of the catchment area was

remarkable. There is no other spot within a radius of 10 km

from Daulatabad where so much water can be collected and

stored. The system of three connected dams is quite

remarkable. The upper ones serve as settling tanks, preventing

silt from going down and allowing only clear water to reach the
outlets.

Water distribution was organised through two sets of

channels - one emanating from the upper dam, and the other

from the lowest. The one leading out of the upper dam was an

open channel that travelled along the hills at a higher level. The

whole system was built of brick and mortar on a stone

foundation, and was plastered smooth on the inner side. It was

uniform throughout its length of more than 2 km. Of the second

set of channels, one emanated from the lowest lake and

travelled at a much lesser height along the same hills that the

first channel did. Portions of this channel have by now been

lost to road widening. The second channel of the second set

was built of underground terracotta pipes, which fitted

smoothly into each other, their joints cemented to make them

leak-proof. The entire pipeline was encased in a wall of brick

and lime mortar. Traps to catch silt and dirt in the water were provided at intervals, which had
removable lids to enable them

to be cleaned periodically. Both the sets of channels emptied

themselves in a distribution head consisting of three tanks. The

entire arrangement is still intact although there is no water in

the channels.

For house-to-house distribution, a complex network of

terracotta pipes encased in brick masonry existed over a part

of the Ambarkot area. The Mahakot also had such a network

but it is now buried under the debris of later habitations. The

size of the terracotta pipes was standardised. They usually

emptied themselves in brick masonry tanks of various sizes.

Some sort of stoppers may have been in use, although none

came to light during the excavation. They were probably

made of wood. Water from the pipes was also taken to the

hamams, two of which exist even today. An interesting feature

was the provision of air shafts at regular intervals, in the

Mahakot and Ambarkot areas. These were simple structures,

hollow, and sat astride small pits meant to intercept silt and

allow clearer water to proceed. A person could enter the

shafts and clean the pits.

Arrangements to lift the water to tanks placed at a height

were based on the use of the Persian wheel. Water was let

out through pipes to gardens and fountains. A complete

system existed in the 16th-17th century Nizam Shahi palace

in the Kalakot area. A feature rarely noticed elsewhere

was discovered at Daulatabad - arrangements for disposal

of used water through well-planned drains of brick and mortar.

M S Mate

MAHARASHTRA

MAHARASHTRA

The Deccan Plateau occupies a major part of Maharashtra

and extends over a general elevation of 300-900 m. The

main body of the plateau is divided by a number of hill

ranges - the Satmala-Ajanta chain in the north, the

Balaghat range in the middle, and the Mahadeo hills in the

south. This region has low to moderate rainfall, ranging

from 508-890 mm annually. The soil here is black cotton

soil. The western Deccan region of Maharashtra includes

the districts of Khandesh (now comprising Dhule and

Jalgaon), Ahmadnagar, Pune, Satara, Sholapur, Nashik,

Kolhapur and Sangli. The central Deccan region includes

Amravati, Akola, Buldana, Aurangabad, Osmanabad,

Nanded, Beed and Parbhani districts.

Traditionally, well irrigation was fairly extensive and

was the principal form of irrigation in the central Deccan

region. Well water was used for drinking and washing

cattle. But sometimes when brackish water occurred in

wells, villagers had to travel several miles each day to collect water. In Amravati, brackish water from
wells was

used for salt production.1,2

Numerous dams (bandharas) of a permanent or

temporary nature, earthen or masonry, were built across

rivers and streams in western Deccan. These structures

would either raise the water level to enable water to be

channelled to fields through canals, or impound water to

form a large reservoir. They were found especially in the

hilly areas of Khandesh and Nashik districts, in the upper

reaches of rivers and streams, and also in Sholapur,

Ahmadnagar, Kolhapur, Satara and Pune.

The earthen dams required regular maintenance, and

often had to be rebuilt annually as they were washed away

during the monsoon. Where a bandhara was built across a

small stream, the water supply would usually last for a

few months after the rains. When the water level fell

below the level of a channel, a wooden shovel or scoop

was used to lift the water. In Nashik district, bandharas

were built either by villagers or private persons who

received rent-free land in return for their public spirit. The

channels leading into the fields were known as pats. A

patkari or channel-keeper, whose job was often hereditary,

maintained the channels and apportioned the water

supply hourly or daily, according to the area of land held

by the individual farmer. The patkari was paid either by

grants of land or grains. Unlike wells, these channels were

not individually owned but were the property of those

who originally built or annually rebuilt the bandharas.

In the erstwhile Khandesh district, there was hardly

any stream without a bandhara. These bandharas were

constructed by the Farruki rulers. But at the turn of the

century, most of them were found to be ruined and some

of them, though in good condition, had been abandoned

due to silting up of the distribution canals and shortage of

water.3 The irrigation department of the British

government took over the responsibility of repairing some

of these structures after 1857, and a cess known as patphalla

was levied to meet the cost of petty repairs and clearance

of the channels at the rate of four annas per acre of

sugarcane and two annas per acre for other irrigated crops.

The lower Panjhra canal and the Hartala lake in

Khandesh district are two old works that were restored

and extended by the British. The lower Panjhra works

comprise the Mukti reservoir, with two earthen dams and

10 other dams across the Panjhra river, in all 844 m-long.

The reservoir ensured unfailing supply of water to all

lands commanded by the channels. The old Hartala lake,

which lay on a small tributary of the Tapti, was destroyed

in 1822 when floods breached the dam.3

The Bhatodi lake in Ahmadnagar district, built by

Salabat Khan (1565-1588), was also extended by the British.

The dam was built in two parts - a low massive masonry

wall some distance beyond which was an earthen bank,

which formed the chief component of the dam.4

In Satara district too, irrigation was carried out chiefly

by wells and by a series of canals led off from rivers

which were dammed. In 1781, Naro Appaji, a

distinguished hereditary kulkarni (accountant) in the

Peshwa's service, partially built the Revari canal on the

Vasna river, which was a feeder of the Krishna river.

Some of the work was completed after Naro's death but

the channel remained unfinished. This was completed

and brought into use by the British in 1863. The

descendants of Naro Appaji gave up their claims on the

work on the condition that they were allowed free use of

water for nine acres of land. A complete system of

distributaries, some of which extended to the Krishna

valley, was constructed by the villagers.

Urban centres and forts in the region had elaborate

water supply systems (see box Daulatabad: Fortified

Waters). Under the Nizam Shahi kings (1490-1636), 15

channels supplied the city of Ahmadnagar with water

from deepwells at the foot of the neighbouring hills. Of the

15, eight were still intact in the late 19th century.5 The

Vadgaon channel, which supplied water to 12,000 people,

was constructed by a nobleman, Salabat Khan, around the end of the 15th century. It was destroyed
in the beginning

of the 17th century and later repaired by one Mian

Muntaki at a cost of Rs 1,00,000.

Junnar town in Pune district received water partly

from the Kukdi river but chiefly water was brought

through earthen pipes from three wells. This water was

received in 18 cisterns. Two of the wells, built with temple

stones, were connected by an underground channel. The

cisterns held water for eight months. In hot weather, water

had to be raised using a Persian wheel. These waterworks

were constructed during the Muslim rule and were

probably built before the 17th century.6

The Karad fort in Satara district had a remarkable

stepwell. The fort overhangs the Koyna river. A well was

dug right down from the fort to the level of the river, with

which it was connected by a pipe. A part opening at the

top was rounded off to lift water. The other part had a

magnificent flight of steps leading down to the water

level. The well was dug in soft earth, and to prevent it

from falling in, it was lined by excellent masonry in

mortar.7

Phad system

The community-managed phad irrigation system,

prevalent in northwestern Maharashtra, probably came

into existence some 300-400 years ago. The system

operates on three rivers in the Tapi basin - Panjhra,

Mosam and Aram - in Dhule and Nashik districts. A

series of bandharas were built on these rivers to divert

water for agricultural use. A graphic description of their

construction is available in The Gazetteer of Bombay

Presidency: Khandesh, published by the Khandesh

Collectorate in 1880, which is the first document to give

details of the construction. The gazetteer states:

"The bandharas must, at one time, have been very

numerous. In the west, there is scarcely a stream of any size

without traces of them. Tradition attributed their

construction to the Musalman rulers. In many places

foundation holes cut in the sheet rock are the only traces of

former dams. Others are found in every stage of ruin. Some

are still in use while others have been abandoned due to

River

Panjhra

Mosam

Aram

Total

Source: R K Patil

scarcity of water, silting and other causes. Here and there

huge masses of overturned masonry lying a few yards

down the stream from the line of the weirs show the

violence of occasional floods and excellence of the old

cement. The sites of these dams were as a rule well chosen.

Except a few, built straight across the stream, dams are

more or less oblique, the watercourse issuing at the lower

end. Where the rock below is not continuous, their forms

are most irregular. In building a dam, holes were cut in the

rock in the proposed line of the wall. In the holes stone

uprights, sometimes small pillars taken from the Hindu

temples, were set and a dam was either built in front of

these or the stones were built into the dam leaving only the

backs of the uprights visible. The dams are strong, clumsy

walls commonly sloping on both sides to a narrow top. The

materials are commonly black basalt stone, coarse concrete

mixed with small pieces of bricks and the very best cement.

Occasionally large blocks are found in the face of the wall

but the inner stones are all small. Dressed stone is seldom

used for either facing. Except some small openings at the

middle or at the base, no provision seems to have been

made for removing the silt. While the dams were built with

the greatest care, the watercourses were laid down with

strict economy."

Though no records are available indicating who built

the bandharas and the canal system, one of the documents

available with one prominent farmer of the Rayawat

bandhara region indicates that his ancestors built patilki. He was responsible for the

maintenance of the bandharas and

distribution of water with the help

of local farmers. The present

generation is the twelfth in the

lineage.

While the exact number of

bandharas on the Panjhra river is not

known, a study of the Panjhra

project in 1964 mentions 45

bandharas. However, only 14

bandharas are presently functioning

in the upper reaches; there are also

a few functioning on the lower

reaches, which are managed by

traditional hereditary village

functionaries.
Even this system is getting

eroded because of the abolition of

hereditary rights of village

functionaries. Each independent

system comprises a bandhara, a small canal on the bank

and distributaries for irrigation.

The Rayawat bandhara system comprises a weir across

Panjhra river near Bhadane village. It commands an area

of about a few hundred hectares, mostly within the village.

As the area is small, communication is quick. If the

irrigation staff, hired by the irrigators to manage the

system, neglects work, it is immediately noticed and action

taken. The irrigators are all from the same village and they

respect the authority of the village elders.

Availability of water in relation to irrigation

requirements is an important factor in water management.

In the phad system, variations are managed annually by

demarcating the command into two categories. Assured

irrigation is so limited that in most years it can be irrigated

without much difficulty. In years of water scarcity,

irrigation is done by extending the rotation period in

summer, with little stress on the system. In years of good

rain, the unassured area also gets irrigation benefits. The

unassured area is invariably at the tail-end and perennial

crops are not grown, thus limiting the losses in the

summer.

Another important factor is the existence of canals with

large capacities in relation to irrigation requirements. The

capacity of the canal is usually constant from the bandhara

down to the distributaries. This means that the capacity

factor (ratio of actual capacity of the canal to the capacity

required as per crop water requirement) increases from the

head to the tail of the canal. This design provides a better

flexibility of operation at the phad level.

Division of the command into phads and planting of

only one crop in each phad also helps in the management

of irrigation application. The water requirements for a phad

are the same, and the entire area in a phad can be treated

uniformly for water application. Sharing of water amongst

the phads can also be varied according to different water

requirements of different crops. Thus, a phad with a wheat

crop can be allotted a higher share of water (per hectare)

than a phad with a sorghum crop. The sequence of

irrigation in a phad is from head to tail. At the head, farmers receive irrigation water first, and the
water

application is relatively high. When the upper farms are

irrigated, excess flow reaches the lower farms. To ensure

that farmers at the tail-end get adequate water supply,

second watering to farmers at the top is not allowed until

all farmers along the canal have received irrigation water.

One crop can be grown in one phad. The variety of

crops to be grown in different phads is decided by an

assembly of irrigators, well in advance of the monsoon

season. Crops are rotated among the phads so that, over a

period of two to three years, every phad gets sugarcane, the

main cash crop. Maintenance and repairs of bandharas are

the responsibility of the government, whereas the canal

system is maintained by the irrigators themselves. The

bandharas need repairs usually once in 15 to 20 years. As

this is beyond the means of farmers, the task has been

entrusted to the government.

Though farmers' organisations have functioned well in

the past, their future is uncertain. Firstly, because the

government has built reservoirs upstream to utilise the

available riverwaters, affecting the post-monsoon flows

downstream, where bandharas are built. Secondly, a sugar

factory has come up in the area, increasing the demand for

sugarcane, a water intensive crop.

On the Panjhra river, a new weir with a canal system

was built at Sayyadnagar in 1952 to draw supplies from

the river. In the 1970s, two storage dams were built

upstream - Panjhra dam on the Panjhra river and

Malangaon dam on its tributary, Kan. These schemes have

their own command areas, served by extensive canal

systems. The whole river is notified and the bandharas have

been declared first class irrigation works. In the state's

irrigation parlance, once a river is notified, any

person/group drawing water from the river requires

government permission. Furthermore, irrigation works

include major and medium systems and their operation

and maintenance is with a government irrigation agency.

Second class works are small works (covering less than

100 hectares [ha]) with no storage for ensuring reliable

supplies and for which separate staff on government

[Link], LOCATION ,TWS, Built, Water ,Unbuilt ,REMARKS (RELATED TO WATER,CULTURE AND
SOCIETY) ,CITATIONS

This table provides a structured overview of the TRADITIONAL WATER SYSTEMS (TWS) IN
MAHARASHTRA,

KARNATAKA

2. KARNATAKA

The Deccan Plateau covers a large part of Karnataka. Its

existing districts were once a part of the erstwhile Mysore

state, Coorg, the Nizam of Hyderabad's Dominions, and

the Bombay and Madras Presidencies. The Northern

Karnataka Plateau includes the present-day districts of

Gulbarga, Bidar, Belgaum and Bijapur. The plateau has an

elevation of 300-600 m. Its treeless monotony is only

broken by the river plains of the Krishna, Bhima,

Ghatprabha and Malprabha. Black cotton soil

predominates in this region. The Central Karnataka

Plateau covers the districts of Bellary, Dharwad, Raichur,

Shimoga, Chitradurga (ex-Chitaldurg) and Chikmagalur

(erstwhile Kadur). The region marks the transition

between the Northern Plateau and the relatively higher

Southern Plateau. The Southern Plateau includes the

districts of Bangalore, Tumkur, Kolar, Mysore, Hassan (of

the erstwhile Mysore state), and Kodagu (erstwhile

Coorg). It covers the Cauvery basin and has an elevation of 600-900 m, reaching as much as 1,500-
1,750 m in the hills

of Kollegal and Kodagu. The state receives rainfall from

both the southwest and the northeast monsoons, though

the rainfall received from the former is much more than

that from the latter. Rainfall decreases towards the east -

it is highest along the coast and lowest in Bellary.

Traditional water harnessing for irrigation in

Karnataka used a number of systems: water was supplied

directly from river channels; from tanks supplied by river

channels; from a series of tanks situated in valleys of rivers

or streams; and, by wells and springs locally called

talpariges. At the turn of the century, channel irrigation was

restricted largely to the south of the erstwhile Mysore state

(Mysore and Hassan districts). Irrigation was also obtained

in the Mysore state from riverfed tanks using the waters of

the Cauvery, Hemavati, Yegachi, Lakshmantirtha, Kabini,

Swarnavati, Nugu and Shimsha3. In north Karnataka, the

Tungabhadra anicuts (dykes or bunds) and channels

partially irrigated the Bellary, Dharwar and Bijapur

districts of the former Bombay Presidency.

Tank irrigation was extremely important in Karnataka

and it was found predominantly in Bijapur, Shimoga,

Kadur, Bellary, Hassan, Tumkur, Kolar and Bangalore

districts. Even though they were not the primary

irrigation source in the Mysore state, tanks were found in

abundance there.13 Northern Karnakata

A large proportion of the cultivated area in

north Karnataka was under dry crops. The main

soil types are black cotton and red soils. The

Belgaum Gazetteer, written towards the end of

the last century, claims that most of the large

reservoirs that did exist, were in a bad state.

Channels or pats were built to carry water from

wells, rivers, streams and reservoirs. The water

was often dammed to raise it to the appropriate

level, and then turned into a channel. When the

level of water in the stream or reservoir was

below the level of the pat, water was raised by a

dol - a three-cornered bamboo basket. The

basket was dipped into the water, lifted up and

the water was tossed into the channel.14

In 1881-82, there were 32 irrigation works in

Bijapur, quite apart from wells and small

streams, which watered 555.66 ha. Of these, 15

were temporary and were maintained by the

people. There were also 355 reservoirs and

ponds.1$ The Banshankari lake was built by two

Jains, Shankarshet and Chandrashet in the 16th

century. Two reservoirs at Mamdapur were

built by Sultan Muhammad of Bijapur in

1633 AD. Both these reservoirs had earthen

dams with strong walls alongside the water

body. It had several outlets for irrigation, each

consisting of a series of round holes cut in stone

at different levels, that could be closed by

wooden plugs.15

CENTRAL KARNATAK

Tanks, called kere in Kannada, were the

predominant traditional method of irrigation in

the Central Karnataka Plateau, and were fed

either by channels branching off from anicuts built across

streams, or by streams in valleys. The outflow of one tank

supplied the next all the way down the course of the

stream; the tanks were built in a series, usually situated a

few kilometres apart. There were also rainfed tanks which

trapped the runoff from hill slopes. Wells were found in

most of these central districts but they were not the chief

source of irrigation. Anicuts and channels from the Tungabhadra and the Varda also irrigated parts

of this region.

The dams were usually faced with a rough

stone revetment but a few, however, had tur-

fronted slopes in areas where stone was scarce.

The terminal tank — stop tank — was usually

made strong enough to withstand any breaching.

Each tank was provided with at least one sluice,

placed on a level suitable for the irrigation of the

land.

The

tanks were also provided with

masonry escapes called kodies, which were often

of

great strength. A cross dam or anicut of

masonry or earth, called a katay, was often

constructed on the escape channel, and an

irrigation channel branched off from above it.

Under the British, village authorities were

responsible for the upkeep of these tanks. If not

properly maintained, the repair work was carried

out by amildars, and the cost recovered from the

defaulters.1 Irrigation in Shimoga and Kadur districts was mostly undertaken by tanks, probably
because of the undulating topography and the red sandy loam soil found in the region.16 In 1900,
Kadur district had 9,656 tanks, Chitaldurg 2,892, and Shimoga 8,611. Tanks were found mainly along
the Vedavati river in the Chitaldurg and Shimoga districts. A series of altogether 110 tanks were part
of the Chinna Huggari, Doderi Nayakanhatti and Bharmasagar. The Vedavati or Hagari was dammed
to form the Mari Kanave reservoir which also fed the Ayyankere and Madagkere tanks. The
Madagakere was formed by embanking the Avati at the point where two hills met so as to of form a
natural basin.!6 The Mari Kanave tank had an area 8,806 ha and a circumference of more than 113
km. The Ayyankere was a beautiful lake surrounded by high hills and studded with islands. It was
formed by embanking the perennial Gaurihalla. Tradition has it that the bank was at the point of
breaking when the danger that threatened the town of Sakkarepatna was announced by the goddess
of the lake to Honbilla, the nigranti or waterman. He obtained

from her the promise that the catastrophe would be delayed

until he returned with the orders of his master, the king of

Sakkarepatna, and, hastening to the town, delivered a

warning of the impending danger. The king, however,

thought that under the conditions of the promise, if he

could prevent the return of the messenger, the disaster

would be averted forever. He had him killed on the spot

and the embankment has stood ever since. A shrine

was erected in his memory. Considerable repairs were

made to the embankment in the 13th century under the

Hoysala kings.16,17

The Sulekere tank in Shimoga district was formed by

damming the Haridra stream in a narrow gorge. The

embankment was not very long but was of great strength,

width and height. It resisted many floods over the

centuries. The tank was constructed in the 11th or 12th

century AD by a sule or dancing girl, hence its name.16,17 Hilly Dharwad was well supplied with
water but in the

plains rivers tended to run dry, and the people had to

depend on pondwater or dig holes in riverbeds. Most

reservoirs and ponds in Dharwad were old and found

largely in southwest Dharwad, where there was an

abundance of suitable sites. It is not known who made

them and when. Most of them are believed to be made by

the Vijayanagar or Anegudi kings (1335-570 AD), who

were famous for their waterworks. These reservoirs were,

as a rule, formed by a low and often irregular dam. They

often depended for a part of their water on the escape

from higher lakes. Often the natural catchment area was

increased by catch water drains or by supply channels

from streams. Wastewater escapes were invariably simple

channels cut into hard soil or gravel. They were generally

at the long end of a dam to avoid breaching of the main

dam. The larger lakes almost always had dams faced with

dry stubble stone. Below each reservoir, the land was laid

out in terraces, and the distribution of water was entirely

managed by the community. Ordinary disputes were

settled by the leading members of the villages and, in

grave cases, by the officers of the British irrigation

department.
As their water usually did not last throughout the year,

the cultivators had to depend either on wells sunk below

the dam or on the rainstorms of March and April. The

reservoirs would gradually see a decrease in their storage

capacity due to deposits of silt. Formerly, the landholders,

who used the waters of the lake, would make annual

contributions in money or labour to remove the silt.

However, by the 1880s, this practice had ceased. In the

latter half of the last century, the British carried out repairs

like the raising of the dam crest, widening the waste weirs

or repairing outlets. They left the repairs of catch water

drains and water channels to the people. Land grants or

inams were given to public spirited individuals who repaired

ponds at their own cost. Some of the wet or malnad lands to

the west, watered by new or repaired reservoirs were

given on lease (kauls) for seven to 12 years to builders and repairers of the reservoirs. Where there
were large

reservoirs, a channel man or narkatti distributed the water

and received fees in grain. In the case of small reservoirs,

the landholders helped themselves according to customs

under the control of the head of the village.18 The chief

reservoirs were at Haveri in Karajgi, Nagnur in Banakapur

and at Dambal in Gadag. The Dhambal lake was situated

in a region where the rainfall was light. The lake usually

ran dry in December, and wells had to be dug and its

water-used for four to five months every year at higher

cost. This lake was believed to have been constructed

around 1500 AD. Canal irrigation was also important in Dharwad. The

main canal system was on the south bank of the Dharma,

the Varda's chief feeder, which rises in the Sahyadri hills.

The work was about 500 years old. A solid masonry weir
built across the stream raised the water a few metres high

and two canals were led off on each bank. The left bank

canal fed four reservoirs. Each of the two main branches

fed a number of small canals which commanded a

considerable tract of land

between the Vardha and the

Dharma. The Dharma, which

was also dammed by a masonry

weir and a canal, branching off

its right bank, supplied three

ponds at Naregal. The Dharma

flowed for only six months;

however, its waters, stored in a

number of ponds, were used

perennially. The silt deposit in

this canal system was unusually

high. Formerly, all villagers

interested in the canals cleaned

the silt. This system, however,

fell into disuse. There were some 280 tanks in use in Bellary district but only seven had an ayacut
(command area) of over 200 ha. Only two of these tanks were river fed and most of them were silted
up by the early 1900s. Due to scanty rainfall, a large catchment area ‘was required to ensure a
reliable supply. Kudligi taluka had maximum number of tanks, where the nature of the ground was
more suitable for tank construction. The Daroji tank, seventh in a series of tanks here, was reportedly
built by Tipu Sultan by constructing a large embankment across the Narihalla.® There were 10
anicuts on the Tungabhadra river, and these structures and their channels were all constructed by
the Vijayanagar kings, some 400-500 years ago. All of them are made of large boulders and rough
masses of stone piled one upon the other without mortar or cement. In the Ramanna anicut, stone
clamps and pegs were used and, at Siruguppa, iron clamps were used to hold the mass together. The
anicuts leaked much less than expected as the collected lower parts were rendered water-tight by
the silt which in their crevices. Except the Vallabhapuram and Turuttu anicuts, none ran straight
across the river but went diagonally across it, utilising any ledges of rock, small islands or large
boulders that the bed contained. In Hospet taluka, a cess known as nirbhatta, was levied on inams
which used the water from the Tungabhadra channels and some larger tanks. Legends of Madag: The
Madag reservoir lay in the erstwhile Mysore state but it irrigated land in Dharwad. This reservoir was
also believed to be the work of the Vijayanagar kings. The gap between the hills through which the
Kumadvati, a feeder of the Tungabhadra, flowed, was closed by an embankment 30.5 m high. It had
huge stone blocks descending in regular steps from the dam's crest to the water's edge. Two other
embankments were also thrown across other gaps in the hills on either side of the Kumadvati valley
to prevent the waters from escaping. A channel was cut along the hills for the overflow of the lake
when it had risen to the intended height. Each of the three embankments were provided with sluices
built of huge slabs of hewn stone for the irrigation of the plain below. These sluices were built on the
same principle as other old local sluices. A rectangular masonry channel through the dam was closed
with a perforated stone fitted with a wooden stopper. But, as the sluices had to be in proportion with
the size of the lake, instead of small stone pillars which in ordinary works carried the platform over
the stopper, the supports were formed of single stones weighing about 20 tonnes each. Once, the
lake bursts through its embankment, little effort was made to repair it. There were several legends
associated with the Madag reservoir, including one of a human sacrifice at the upper sluice. As it was
the crowning point of this work, the Vijayanagar king and his court met to see the great single stone
pillar raised in its place. For days the workers’ efforts were in vain. It was believed that a spirit or
ghost was angry and unless a maiden was offered as a sacrifice, the spirit would not allow the pillar
to be raised. Lakshmi, the daughter of the chief Vadar or pond-digger, offered herself and was buried
alive under the site of the pillar. The spirit was propitiated, and the pillar was raised and set in its
place. The sluice became a temple in honour of Lakshmi. According to another legend, the patil of
Masur had a beautiful daughter, Kenchava, whom the Vijayanagar king wished to marry. As her
father was of a higher caste than the king, she refused and fled. Afterwards her parents wished to
marry her to a patil of another village. They set out to celebrate the marriage but on passing the
temple (which was later covered by the Madag lake), Kenchava entered the temple and devoted
herself to the god. When

the lake was dug, Kenchava refused to leave her god; the

temple was submerged and she was drowned.

According to another legend, during a season of severe

floods when a watchman was guarding the dam,

Kenchava approached him and asked him to tell the patil

of the village to sacrifice a nine-month pregnant woman

otherwise she would break the embankment. The

watchman refused to leave his post, but she promised not

to break the dam in his absence. The watchman gave

Kenchava's message to the headman, which he ignored.

The headman instead punished the watchman for leaving

his post. Enraged with the patil's insolence, Kenchava

burst through the hill and breached the dam. Hence,

during seasons of drought, the heads of the temples of

Shikarpur would come to the lake with a piece of gold and

a nose ring, which they would lay on a raft and push into
the lake, praying to Kenchava to bring rain.

VALUES –

Historical

Literary

Identity

Cultural

Social

Economic

Functional

Architectural

Narrative

|
COMPONENTS

Structural

Water Management system

Temple Towna Cultural

Historical Geography

Social Cultural Aspect Generation to Generation

Performing arts;
foric Valueerary Volue
Social practices, rituals

festive events
Social Value
Knowledge and practices

Economic Traditional craftsmanship

Functional

Borty Value
LUv

Mondopoms

Agrohorem houte

Sub Shrines

Temple Tanks

Temple Nonagement Syster

South Karnataka

This region is extremely hilly and undulating. Numerous

canal and anicut systems and a series of tanks were

associated with the Palar and Cauvery rivers flowing

through this region. Bangalore and Tumkur districts did

not have any big rivers and, as a result, irrigation by tanks

and wells was common.17

The tank system of Kolar was well developed, and

facilities for construction of tanks were fully utilised. The

waters of the Palar were intercepted to form a series of

tanks -- one above the other, a few miles apart - and

were known as the Palar series. The district was largely

dependent on these tanks for irrigation. The Somambudhi, Amanikere, Jannaghatta, Bethamangala
and Ramasagara

were the important tanks of the Palar series. The Kolar,

Amanikere, Nangali and Kurbur tanks were also indirectly

connected with them. Other rivers such as the North and

South Pennar and the Chitravati were also utilised in a

similar manner. Bethamangala was a large tank repaired

in the time of king Iriva Nolamba in about 950 AD, and

then restored again in 1095 AD by Chokkimaya, a general

of the Hoysala prince, Vishnuvardham.17

The Cauvery and its tributaries flow through the

Hassan and Mysore districts. This mighty river, too, was

dammed at numerous places along its course, and

numerous canals intersected the land on either side of the

river. These channels ensured that the undulating

tableland of these districts was perennially irrigated. The

other rivers which were dammed along their course

included the Suvarnavati, Hemavati, Brighu,

Lakshmantirtha and Shimsha. The Cauvery also had 12

anicuts and 13 channels. The river channels generally

followed a contour line and irrigated a portion of the land

between the river and the channel itself. Numerous tanks

also existed in these districts.

Under the British, the management of these river

channels was under the public works department but it

had nothing to do with the distribution of water or

management of the channels during the irrigation season.

The cultivators were responsible for clearing weeds.

During the dry season, there were periods of scarcity and

constant complaints were made by the cultivators. 14

The first dam built across the Cauvery in Mysore

district was the Alalekatte, a long structure of rough stone

with a length of 523 m. It supplied the Saligram channels

which ran for a distance of 38.4 km. The next dam down the river was the Hanumanthakatte, which
gave rise to the

Mirle channel. The channel led off from the left bank and

divided into three branches. The drainage of these

branches later united in the valley, and was led off by a

channel called the Hampapura which, after a course of

25.6 km, ended in the Gullige tank. The dam and the

channels were constructed by Chikka Deva Raja Wodeyar,

and improved by Dewan Purnaiya.

The Ramasamudram channel from the Cauvery led off

from the Chunchankatte anicut, and had a course of

65.6 km. The fourth anicut on the river was the

Adagurkatte, which gave rise to the Tippur channel. It was

composed of two separate dams of rough stone. Both the

dams and the channel were constructed by Govinda

Nayaka, a Palegar chieftain. From the Madadkatte, the

Chikkadevarayasagar, the finest channel of Mysore,

branched off. It ran for 115 km on the left bank of the river

irrigating an area of 5,563.5 ha. Other dams on the

Cauvery in this district were the Devaraya dam, Balmuri

dam (which gave rise to the Bangar Doddi channel),

Ramasvami dam and the Madhavamantri dam. The

Krishnarajakatte supplied water in the Hassan district.16,20