Grand Anicut
Coordinates: 10°50′N 78°49′E / 10.83°N 78.81°E The Grand Anicut, also known as the Kallanai (Tamil: கல்லணை) (kall -stone, anai-bund), is an ancient dam built on the Kaveri River in the state of Tamil Nadu in southern India.It was built by the Chola king Karikalan around the 2nd Century AD[1][2] and is considered one of the oldest water-diversion or water-regulator structures in the world, which is still in use.[3][4]
The Kaveri River forms the boundary between the Erode and Salem districts. The Bhavani River joins the Kaveri at the town of Bhavani, where the Sangameswarar Temple, an important pilgrimage spot in Tamil Nadu, was built at the confluence of the two rivers. Sweeping past the historic rock of Tiruchirapalli, it breaks into two channels at the island of Srirangam, which enclose between them the delta of Thanjavur (Tanjore), the garden of Tamil Nadu. The northern channel is called the Kollidam (Kolidam); the other preserves the name of Kaveri, and empties into the Bay of Bengal at Poompuhar, a few hundred miles south of Chennai (Madras). On the seaward face of its delta are the seaports of Nagapattinam and Karaikal.[5] Irrigation works have been constructed in the delta for over 2,000 years.
The Kallanai is made with unhewn stone, 329 m (1,079 ft) long, 20 m (66 ft) wide and 5.4 m (18 ft) high, across the main stream of the Kaveri.[6] The purpose of the dam was to divert the waters of the Kaveri across the fertile delta region for irrigation via canals. The dam is still in excellent repair, and supplied a model to later engineers, including the Sir Arthur Cotton's 19th-century dam across the Kollidam, the major tributary of the Kaveri.[7] The area irrigated by the ancient irrigation network is about 69,000 acres (28,000 ha). By the early 20th century, the irrigated area had been increased to about one million acres.[8]
Recently the Delta farmers of Tamil Nadu demanded the Tamil Nadu government honour the great Chola king Karikala Cholan, who built the Kallanai.[9]
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[edit] Rivers
It splits river Kaviri into 4.
Kollidam Aru [Again merges with Kollidam Aru ] Kaviri Vennaru Puthu Aru [Constructed in 1930s] flows to thanjavur, Orathanadu, Pattukkottai Taluks
[edit] References
- ^ "Flowing waters for fertile fields". The Hindu (India). 29 August 2011. http://www.thehindu.com/life-and-style/kids/article2408778.ece.
- ^ Singh, Vijay P.; Ram Narayan Yadava (2003). Water Resources System Operation: Proceedings of the International Conference on Water and Environment. Allied Publishers. p. 508. ISBN 817764548X. http://books.google.com/books?id=Bge-0XX6ip8C&pg=PA508&dq=kallanai&sig=_bvXlOQqAftum2T7p_6McQJHgUk#PPA508,M1.
- ^ "This is the oldest stone water-diversion or water-regulator structure in the world". Archived from the original on 2007-02-06. http://web.archive.org/web/20070206130842/http://www.hindunet.org/saraswati/traditionwater.pdf. Retrieved 2007-05-27.
- ^ Cauvery River - Britannica Online Encyclopedia
- ^ Wiebe E. Bijker (19 September 2006). "Dikes and Dams, Thick with Politics". Maastricht University. http://arno.unimaas.nl/show.cgi?fid=14861. Retrieved 07 November 2011.
- ^ "Places to visit". IIM-Trichy, India. http://www.iimtrichy.ac.in/home/students/places_to_visit. Retrieved 07 November 2011.
- ^ Govindasamy Agoramoorthy, Sunitha chaudhary & Minna J. HSU. "The Check-Dam Route to Mitigate India's Water Shortages". Law library - University of New Mexico. http://lawlibrary.unm.edu/nrj/48/3/03_agoramoorthy_indian.pdf. Retrieved 07 November 2011.
- ^ "Fit case for World Heritage status". The Hindu (Trichy, India). 10 September 2007. http://www.hindu.com/2007/09/10/stories/2007091058970400.htm.
- ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElM552Hg9BM
[edit] Notes
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
[1] "Cauvery River." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2007. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 12 Feb. 2007
[edit] External links
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