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→Wells and Embankments: added content and references
== Wells and Embankments ==
== Wells and Embankments ==
The Vedic literature implies a clear knowledge of wells and water being drawn from them (RV. 1. 116.9). RV. X.101.5.
The Vedic literature implies a clear knowledge of wells and water being drawn from them (RV. 1. 116.9). RV. X.101.5. The Smrti literature shows that the digging of wells and tanks was included in the list of works of high religious merit designated as Istapurti.
Varahamihira makes it dear that the treatment of the subject of dakargala was for the digging of wells (Brhatsamhita 53. 77, 121- 123). He considers wells situated in the Agneya (east-south), Nairrta (south-west ) and Vayavya (west-north) directions to be inauspicious and recommends their placement in the other five directions (shlokas 97-98). Likewise, he recommends a vapi (reservoir) which is east-west long and not south-north; the latter is destroyed by the water agitated by winds. In such a reservoir the flow of water is to be enclosed by strong wood, stones or baked bricks and the embankments are to be hardened by being crushed by elephants, horses and other animals (verse 1 18). At one place there was to be an outlet gate with a well made bed, the channel lined with stones and a panel, without aperture, fixed in a frame and covered by grit heaped against it (verse 120).
Varahamihira makes it dear that the treatment of the subject of dakargala was for the digging of wells (Brhatsamhita 53. 77, 121- 123). He considers wells situated in the Agneya (east-south), Nairrta (south-west ) and Vayavya (west-north) directions to be inauspicious and recommends their placement in the other five directions (shlokas 97-98). Likewise, he recommends a vapi (reservoir) which is east-west long and not south-north; the latter is destroyed by the water agitated by winds. In such a reservoir the flow of water is to be enclosed by strong wood, stones or baked bricks and the embankments are to be hardened by being crushed by elephants, horses and other animals (verse 1 18). At one place there was to be an outlet gate with a well made bed, the channel lined with stones and a panel, without aperture, fixed in a frame and covered by grit heaped against it (verse 120).
Suyya, a minister under King Avantivarman of Kashmir, accomplished a remarkable work of engineering skill. He dammed the river Vitasta (Jhelum). He built stone embankments for seven yojanas and temporary stone dams at all threatened points and succeeded in shifting the junction of the river with the Sindhu to its existing position (Raja. V. 84-121).<ref name=":1" />
Suyya, a minister under King Avantivarman of Kashmir, accomplished a remarkable work of engineering skill. He dammed the river Vitasta (Jhelum). He built stone embankments for seven yojanas and temporary stone dams at all threatened points and succeeded in shifting the junction of the river with the Sindhu to its existing position (Raja. V. 84-121).<ref name=":1" />
== Rivers ==
The Arthashastra (II. 1.20-22, 39) requires the king to construct reservoir filled with water either perennial or drawn from some other sources. He is to provide sites, roads, timber and other necessary materials to people undertaking the cooperative construction of irrigational and other works. He is advised to maintain those constructed earlier and to provide for new ones. The construction of tanks is evidenced by archaeological excavations.
The mathematical texts show the actual relevance of the functioning of the reservoirs. They refer to the regulation of fountains {nirjharas) for filling a vapi, the lime taken to fill it when a given number of channels (pranaiis) are operated, and for water to flow out of it through a device ([[Yantra (यन्त्रम्)|yantra]]) (Li. p.39, no.95; GSS. VII. 32-33; IV. 28-39).
The Kashyapiyakrshisukti is the only known Sanskrit text which deals with practical details about irrigational facilities for fields. It emphasises the need for the construction of a water reservoir near a village or town. It is to be constructed near a hill or on a table-land with a big lake and, in the case of a plain on a firm-land, near a perennial spring. It is to be provided with a causeway and channels and sluices for filling and emptying it. It may be fed by a mountain rivulet, a big lake, a forest brook or a big river and should be provided with a suitable contrivance for the distribution of water. It is to be provided with a very strong and big culvert and several small channels branching out of it for the easy outflow of water. The text also recommends irrigation from ponds, tanks and, more particularly, from wells. After ascertaining the presence of water by the examination of the soil by an expert of the rules of water-divining and by observing the strata of the earth from the direction of the roots of trees a well or a pond is to be dug.<ref name=":1" />
== Water Lifting Devices ==
A wheel device for drawing water from well is evidenced in the Rgveda, but its nature cannot be determined precisely.
The Arthashastra (11.24.18) refers to a number of devices for lifting water for irrigation. These are hastaprdvartimam, skandhaprdvartimam, srotoyantrapmvartimam and nadisarastatakaku--podghatam. The precise meaning of these expressions has not been determined. Kangle translates them as meaning ‘set in motion by the hand’, ‘set in motion by shoulders’, ‘set flowing in channels by a mechanism' and ‘lifted from rivers, lakes, tanks and wells.’ It may be pointed out that prdvartimam here does not qualify a mechanism or device set in motion. It refers to the diversion of water or its being brought from one’s own irrigation work (svasetu), Kangle takes hastaprdvartimam as referring to the carrying of water in pitchers.
=== Ghatiyantra ===
Ghatiyantra referred to the main part consisting of the wheel and the pitchers. The rotation of the cycle of pitchers is often referred to metaphorically in a number of texts in a philosophical context of the cycle of birth and death {Kuv. pp. 227, 277; Upa, Pr. pp.l6, 418, 723; Cham. U comm. n. 15.5; Br. Su. IL2.19). The texts mention only those parts of the device which are relevant to their context, hence the negative argument of the absence of reference cannot be earned too far. The functioning of the device is also mentioned in the Pancatantra stories (Tan, pp. 142-43; Pane. pp. 231-44), writings of Bana (Hsa. n, p 42; Kdd. pp. 85, 322), Mrcchakatika (X.59) and Gathasaptasati (V. 90).
The earliest epigraphic reference to the device is traced in the Madasore inscription of Yasodharman (A.D. 352). The Upamitibhavaprapancakatha of Siddharsi (A.D. 906) gives a detailed account of the various parts of the device and its functioning.<ref name=":1" />
== References ==
== References ==
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