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History and Development of Tank Irrigation
In the Telengana region of Andhra Pradesh, known for rice cultivation, tank irrigation developed extensively since ancient times. The districts of Warangal and Karimnagar have several old irrigation tanks; the lakes of Pakhal, Ramappa, Laknavaram, and Sanigaram were constructed in the 12th and 13th centuries by kings of the period (All India Economic Conference 1937). There is a system of tanks at Kattagiri referred to in inscriptions dated 1096 AD. These accounts describe the practice of constructing tanks in a series at different levels of a watershed. In 1188 AD, a merchant named Dasi-Setti renovated and increased the size of a tank at Banavur. In 1201/02 AD, after a famine in Tiruvannamalai village, two persons built a tank in memory of their mother (Appadorai 1936). A Somavaram inscription dated 1213 AD states that one Racherla Beti Reddi constructed two tanks. A number of inscriptions dated around the 11th and 12th centuries describe tank-construction activities in Warangal (Gopal Reddy 1973).
Several southern rulers took an interest in tank construction. The Kesari-Tatakam Tank was built by Prola I of the Kakatiyas. Beta II constructed two tanks, Setti-Kere and Kesari-Samundra. Another Kakatiya ruler, Prola II, built two tanks. The Praiapa-Charitra states that the ruler Ganapatideva built tanks at Nellore, Gan-gapuram, Ellore, Ganapapuram, and Ekasilanagaram (Yazdani 1960).
A rock inscription dated 1030 AD praises the local ruler Kota Gonka for the many tanks built by him (Vaidehi Krishnamurty 1970).
In contrast to the situation in the old Madras Presidency, there is evidence that tank irrigation in the old Hyderabad State is of more recent origin. The area irrigated from tanks increased considerably only during the latter part of the 19th century, under the Nizams of Hyderabad. From 4000 ha in 1895-96, records of the Public Works Department (PWD) of the Hyderabad State show around 40000 ha of tank-irrigated area around the turn of the century, and around 350000 ha some 40 years later. No estimate is made in the sources of these statistics about the number of private tanks that must have existed. The fact that the PWD of Hyderabad State expanded the tank-irrigated area during the turn of the century, while the British Government in the Madras Presidency did not do so, indicates that tank-irrigation intensity in different areas was to some extent influenced by the governments in those areas and their emphasis on certain types of capital-development programs.
- Tank irrigation in Semi-Arid Tropical India, Economic evaluation and alternatives for improvement, Research Bulletin no. 10, ICRISAT, 1987, pp.7-8.
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