IS1171: History of Science and Technology - 05

WATER AND IRRIGATION – CHINESE AND INDIAN REGIONS

1. CHINESE REGIONS

1.1.Geographical and historical factors

Climatic and physical geographic conditions in China were so varied, particularly the water
supply. The major regional divisions were formed by the rivers flowing from West to East,
with four prominent river basins; Yellow River in the North, Hui and Yangtze Rivers in the
center and the East, and the Pearl River in the South. According to the archaeological
findings, the first important culture in China is the Yangshao, which existed in the middle
Yellow River Basin around c. 2500 BCE. There were thousands of villages, inhabited by
peoples having an agricultural economy, familiar with textile, carpentry and ceramics. The
chief cereal was millet and later rice, which were cultivated in the Yellow River and the
Yangtze River valleys.

1.2. Irrigation necessities and priorities

Considering the vast land area of China, each region has its own conditions of water
availability. The Northwest area was short of water, so irrigation, silt removal and fertilization
with silt have always been of prime importance.

Irrigation projects in the Northern areas have involved building canals and ditches to capture
the water and conduct it to the fields. The big silt-laden rivers in north China have had such
irrigation systems since the 3rd century BCE. Flood control work and irrigation has
historically preoccupied people in such irrigation works in the Yellow and Hui River valleys.

With the geological land sloping from Northwest to Southeast and a much higher rain
precipitation compared to the drought-prone North and Northwest, the South is well supplied
with water. So the primary task in the South has always been the drainage of surplus water
and the cultivation of drained swamps and lakes and river basins.

1.3. Large scale irrigation works

According to Needham, the oldest irrigation reservoir in China was built around early 6th
century BCE to the south of the city of Shouhsien. He describes it as a great tank, 63 miles in
circumference, which served to catch water draining from the mountains to the north of the
Yangtze and then to irrigate more than six million acres. It was around this time that large
scale water management projects appear to have started in China.

Needham attributes this development to two factors. The first was the use of iron tools in the
latter part of the 5th century BCE, which significantly increased agricultural productivity and
also the capacity to undertake extensive engineering projects. The second was the emergence
of powerful feudal lords. This not only imposed taxes of grain on the peasant farmers but
could also assembled vast labor forces to underage engineering projects of a previously
unimaginable scale.

Copyright © 2018 by Chandana Jayawardana Page 1

 1.4. Philosophical backgrounds – Confucianism and Taoism

Apart from the iron tools and feudalism, there were some other factors which influenced the
irrigation in ancient China. China was the land of several philosophies, of which the
Confucianism and Taoism stand prominent. Both philosophies developed during the 5th to 3rd
centuries BCE, when different states were contending for supremacy, and various
philosophers gave advice to rulers on how to rule a state and its people. This period was
known as the Hundred Schools of Thought.

Taoism is a philosophical tradition which emphasizes living in harmony with the Tao (the
Way). Taoist ethics in general tends to emphasize ‘effortless action’, ‘naturalness’, and
‘simplicity’. Taoist thinkers advised rulers and others to follow the ‘Order of Nature’, to
overcome difficulties and generally treated as a philosophy of life. Under the Taoism, humans
were seen as small elements within the framework of Nature.

More pragmatic and worldly than Taoism, Confucianism was more interested in state-craft
and order, with family as the basic unit of society. Confucius and his followers aimed to
cultivate the ‘Gentleman with ideal’, correct values as pillars of the family in an elitist,
hierarchical, male-dominated society. In this aspect, Taoism differs from Confucianism by not
emphasizing rigid rituals and social order, but considering working with nature in harmony.

1.5. Dujiangyan irrigation scheme – philosophical influence on irrigation works

The Taoists observed Nature and its elements, defining their characteristics according to the
Tao principles. Fascinated by the nature of water and rivers, they applied these observations
to a code of life guiding their own conduct and recommending it to the others. The saying,
'Going with the flow (of Nature)' could be considered as the essence of their philosophy.

One of the major irrigation scheme influenced by Taoist way of thinking is the Dujiangyan
scheme in Sichuan Province. This was started around 270 BCE, in order to supply water to
the Chengdu plain. This was to be achieved by diverting waters of the nearby river Min, a
tributary of the Yangtze. One of the major problems was handling the enormous flow
fluctuations during the summer wet season and the winter dry season. In the diversion works,
the river flow was divided into two channels by building an artificial island in the middle.
Outer channel was to remain as the original course of the river and the inner channel was to
direct the waters to the Chengdu plain. Two channels were connected by spillways
constructed across the island. When river Min was in torrent during the summer, water would
flow over the spillway from the inner to the outer channel from where it would flow to the
Yangtze. During the winter, when water was becoming short, the level would remain below
the spillway and have the majority of the water would stay within the inner channel, and be
taken to the Chengdu plain.

Note: Diagram of the Dujiangyan irrigation scheme will be discussed during the lecture

1.6. Mechanical means of irrigation

Machinery for raising water from one level to another is a very important operation in any
society based on irrigated agriculture. According to Needham, there were many such
mechanisms available in ancient China, like well sweep, well windlass and peripheral pot
wheel. These mechanisms were common to many other civilizations and need the integrated
studies to understand the possibility of their transfers and diffusion among the societies.

Copyright © 2018 by Chandana Jayawardana Page 2

 2. INDIAN REGIONS

2.1. Geographical and historical factors

India has around 14,500 km of inland waterways among which twelve rivers are classified as
major rivers, with the total catchment area exceeding 2,528,000 km2. All major rivers of India
originate from one of the three main watersheds, (i) The Himalaya and the Karakoram ranges,
(ii) Vindhya and Satpura range in Central India and (iii) Sahyadri or Western Ghats in western
India. The Himalayan river networks are snow-fed and have a perennial supply throughout the
year. The other two river systems are dependent on the monsoons and shrink into rivulets
during the dry season.

The history of India includes the prehistoric settlements and societies in the Indian
subcontinent – then the advancements from the Indus Valley Civilization to the eventual
blending of the Indo-Aryan culture to form the Vedic Civilization – then the rise of Hinduism,
Jainism and Buddhism – then the onset of a succession of powerful dynasties and empires for
more than three millennia throughout various geographic areas of the subcontinent. This was
followed by the growth of Muslim dominions during the Medieval period intertwined with
Hindu powers and the advent of European powers in 17th century, finally resulting the
establishment of British India.

2.2. Irrigation necessities and priorities

India is credited with having a long history of human intervention in the management of water
because of its distinctive climatic conditions of intense monsoons followed by prolonged
droughts. Furthermore, rainfall is confined to a few months each year and that too uncertain,
erratic and uneven. This has made Indian agriculture dependent heavily on various types of
irrigation. This dependence has led people and ruling regimes to make choice across a wide
range of technologies of water control and distribution.

2.3. Early irrigation works

Evidences of these early irrigation works could be found in ancient texts, inscriptions, local
traditions and in archaeological remains. The Puranas, Mahabharata, Ramayana and various
other Vedic, Buddhist and Jain texts mention about numerous canals, wells, tanks and
embankments. Moreover, ancient texts provide references of governing principles such as
ethical, moral, spiritual, social and ecological, which were applied for water management
during pre-colonial Hindu and Muslim rule in India.

The Arthshastra one of the ancient historical canon written by Kautilya in the 3rd century
BCE, give a clear account of water management in Mauryan Empire. It states that the local
communities were very well aware about the rainfall regimes, soil varieties and irrigation
techniques in the specific micro-ecological context. Furthermore, Arthashastra mentions that
state rendered help, support and promoted the small water harvesting structures.

In the early times, Indian kings encouraged the irrigation activities by giving grants like
revenue free lands to the nobles, ordinary people and temples to construct tanks for seeking
agricultural prosperity and to increase the state revenue.

In the ancient India, irrigation and water structures were built by various parties. For example
in the case of tank development, for centuries, work was done by the support of local chiefs
with the technical guidance from craftsmen. The villages made their own institutions for the

Copyright © 2018 by Chandana Jayawardana Page 3

construction, maintenance and for operation of the tanks as a common property resource.
Often the tanks were built in a chronological manner, with smaller systems at the upstream of
a catchment and moving with increasing – size towards downstream.

In the larger delta systems of south India, major finance and organization came from the kings
but day-to-day management was entrusted to the local communities and to the cultivators.

2.4. Well irrigation

In water managed agriculture, wells played an important role by supplementing the surface
water irrigation systems in the northern and western India. Wells were used for domestic
water needs and also for complementing irrigation needs, about which the evidence in the
Vedic literature is available. Drawing water from the open wells was by using manually or
animal powered water lifting mechanisms in the high water table areas. a special form of
wells were the stepwells in which the water is reached by descending a set of steps. They
were most common in western India and in the other more arid regions, extending into
Pakistan.

2.5. Colonial engagements in irrigation works

During the colonial rule, irrigation works were attended by the colonial administrators as a
solution for a series of major famines in the 19th century in India (including Bangladesh and
Pakistan). In 1901 the Viceroy, Lord Curzon, appointed a Commission chaired by Sir Colin
Scott-Moncrieff to draw up a comprehensive irrigation plan, which recommended irrigation
of an additional 2.6 million hectares. Arthur Cotton led some irrigation canal projects in the
Deccan peninsula, and some landmarks are named after him in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil
Nadu.

One of the reasons for colonial powers to concentrate on the irrigation in India was the poppy
and opium cultivation for exports to China. Poppy cultivation required reliable, dedicated
irrigation system. Large portions of the eastern and northern regions of India were irrigated to
ensure this reliable supply for poppy and opium cultivations.

2.6. Kudimaramat – a colonial myth

To address the civil engineering works, British administration established the Public Works
Departments (PWD) in 1855. In order to bring all the bigger tanks under the direct control of
PWD, a modern centralized administration for irrigation was evolved. The PWD tried to
induce kudimaramat (people’s maintenance by donated labor) in the mistaken belief that local
communities would undertake voluntary labor to maintain the tanks as a tradition.

Eventually, all this led to more destruction of the traditional management institutions as the
PWD did not have the budget to take care of such widely scattered independent systems of
tanks. Besides people were under the impression that state would look after these tanks with
the formation of PWD. The kudimaramat was recreated as a myth: of a traditional
autonomous village institution by the colonial government in order to invent a village
tradition in the image of the state’s planned irrigation administration. The myth was built by
the colonial government that the village communities would undertake voluntary customarily
labor of kudimaramat, which they had abandoned. In fact in the pre-colonial time, cultivators
did not voluntarily donate their labor for the maintenance of the tanks but were paid from the
funds mobilized at the village level.

Copyright © 2018 by Chandana Jayawardana Page 4