Water Works and Irrigation System in India During Pre-Mughal Times

Abstract

The construction of water-works and the technological changes that took place in the traditional irrigation system in India during the Delhi Sultanate hitherto neglected, need a scientific study. The relevant evidence available in the contemporary Arabic and Persian works, though brief and laconic, sheds interesting light on the engineering skill that went into the construction of water works and the changes that irrigation technology underwent from time to time. This chapter analyses the evidence, contained in miscellaneous sources about the construction of water works, different modes of irrigation and their possible relationship with the life of people. It is divided into three parts: (i) the first concerns with the lakes, cisterns and tanks, (ii) the second concerns with wells, and the (iii) third concerns with artificial canals. Keywords: artificial canals; Delhi Sultanate; India; irrigation system; water-works