Chola Gangam: An emblem of victory lies in ruins

Just a few kilometres away from the Brihadisvara Temple at Gangaikonda Cholapuram lies a tank stretching over 17 km. Chola Gangam, domestically generally known as Ponneri, was dug by Rajendra Chola to rejoice his northern marketing campaign. Historian Okay.A. Nilakanta Sastri, writer of The Cholas, citing the Tiruvalangadu Copper Plates, notes that “on the finish of the expedition, Rajendra erected a ‘liquid pillar of victory’ (ganga-jalamayam jayastambham) in his capital with the waters of the Ganga within the type of the tank Cholaganga.”

Depends on rainwater

But the 1,000-year-old lake is in ruins. Once unfold over 16 miles, the tank has shrunk to 17 km. It stays dry for a lot of the yr because the canals that introduced water from the Kollidam have lengthy been deserted. Yet, traces of those canals stay. Locals imagine that the proposed go to of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on July 27 and the federal government’s plan to launch a commemorative coin may shed much-needed gentle on the lake. “The lake depends upon floor water collected throughout the rains. It is a pity that the tank, which as soon as provided water to Gangaikonda Cholapuram and the 60-acre palace, is in such a pathetic state,” says R. Komagan, chairman of the Gangaikonda Cholapuram Development Council Trust, who has been preventing for years to revive the lake.

The Trichinopoly Gazetteer, authored by F.R. Hemingway, data that the tank as soon as irrigated 1,564 acres of land, its main objective being to provide consuming water to Gangaikonda Cholapuram. Sastri additionally reproduces a report on the tank that appeared in an area publication in 1855: “There is an embankment 16 miles lengthy, operating north and south, supplied with a number of substantial sluices and of nice energy, which in former instances will need to have shaped one of many largest reservoirs in India.” According to the identical report, when the palace was nonetheless in existence, Gangaikonda Cholapuram was a rich and flourishing capital, and the nice tank unfold fertility over miles and miles of what’s now trackless forest. “It has been projected to revive that magnificent work, however the scheme has remained in abeyance for need of engineer officers,” the report laments.

Even 170 years after the report appeared, nothing has been accomplished to revive this gigantic enterprise of historic sovereigns. A bridge constructed by the British runs by the empty lake-bed, which may simply be restored to its former glory by linking it with the Kollidam, remodeling it as soon as once more into an amazing reservoir.

Mr. Komagan, an engineer by coaching, lays out the map of the northern Cauvery system to clarify how water from the Kollidam as soon as stuffed tank after tank earlier than flowing into the Veeranarayanapuram tank, generally known as Veeranam Lake, which then launched surplus water into the river. The tank stays an affidavit to the Cholas’ experience in water administration. Its bunds, strengthened with laterite stones, had been in-built an elliptical form to face up to hydraulic stress. Even after 1,000 years, these stones stay intact. “The sluices are an amazing feat of engineering, constructed with the power to lure sediment introduced in by the inlet canal,” Mr. Komagan says. Today, only one defunct sluice stays, protected by a concrete boundary from whole destruction, due to his efforts. Another such sluice exists in Sri Lanka. He has requested the Tamil Nadu authorities to declare it a protected monument.

A tax for upkeep

“The square-shaped construction on the decrease aspect of the tank accommodates a sediment lure linked with a silt ejector. The construction for releasing water [‘thoompu’], when the tank reaches its minimal capability, is designed to create a vortex move. This sucks the silt and deposits it into paddy fields, enriching them with nutrient-rich sediment,” Mr. Komagan explains. The sediment protecting the fields was historically eliminated by the annual upkeep of waterbodies (‘kudimaramathu’). ‘Eri-ayam’, a levy for this objective, was collected from native farmers.

The tank had as soon as served as a stop-over for abroad birds migrating to the Kodiakkarai Bird Sanctuary. Its destruction has damaged the chain of migration. It has additionally resulted in groundwater depletion in Gangaikonda Cholapuram and its neighbourhood. The water stage has now dropped to 650 toes. “If restored, the tank will function a groundwater recharge zone. If the 12 lakes fed by the Kollidam are repaired, they’ll provide water to Chennai all year long,” Mr. Komagan says. In 1949, T.V. Sadasiva Pandarathar, in his work Pirkala Cholarkal, recorded that many areas in Tiruchi and South Arcot districts remained fertile due to the water from this lake, which additionally served as a drainage outlet for the Veeranam Lake. “Thousands of acres may be irrigated with water from the lake at a time of famine,” he wrote.