Karikala Chola - Grand Anicut

Grand Anicut

The Grand Anicut also known as the Kallanai, was built by the Chola king and is considered one of the oldest water-diversion or water-regulator structures in the world, which is still in use.

The Kallanai is a massive dam of unhewn stone, 329 metres (1,080 ft) long and 20 metres (60 ft) wide, across the main stream of the Kaveri.

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.

The area irrigated by the ancient irrigation network is about 1,000,000 acres (4,000 square kilometres).

Recently the Delta farmers of Tamil Nadu demanded the Tamil Nadu government honour the great Chola king Karikalan, who built the Kallanai.

= இறந்தோன் அவனே!

பாடியவர்: கருங்குழல் ஆதனார்
பாடப்பட்டோன்: சோழன் கரிகாற் பெருவளத்தான்
திணை: பொதுவியல்
துறை: கையறுநிலை

அருப்பம் பேணாது அமர்கடந் ததூஉம்;
துணைபுணர் ஆயமொடு தசும்புடன் தொலைச்சி,
இரும்பாண் ஒக்கல் கடும்பு புரந்ததூஉம்;
அறம்அறக் கணட நெறிமாண் அவையத்து,
முறைநற்கு அறியுநர் முன்னுறப் புகழ்ந்த
பவியற் கொள்கைத் துகளறு மகளிரொடு,
பருதி உருவின் பல்படைப் புரிசை,
எருவை நுகர்ச்சி, யூப நெடுந்தூண்,
வேத வேள்வித் தொழில்முடித் ததூஉம்;
அறிந்தோன் மன்ற அறிவுடையாளன்;
இறந்தோன் தானே; அளித்துஇவ் வுலகம்
அருவி மாறி, அஞ்சுவரக் கருகிப்,
பெருவறம் கூர்ந்த வேனிற் காலைப்,
பசித்த ஆயத்துப் பயன்நிரை தருமார்,
பூவாட் கோவலர் பூவுடன் உதிரக்
கொய்துகட்டு அழித்த வேங்கையின்,
மெல்லியல் மகளிரும் இழைகளைந் தனரே. |} Pattinappaalai describes Karikala as an able and just king. It gives a vivid idea of the state of industry and commerce under Karikala who promoted agriculture and added to the prosperity of his country by reclamation and settlement of forest land. He also built the Grand Anaicut, one of the oldest dams in the world and also a number of irrigation canals and tanks.

We know next to nothing regarding Karikala’s personal life. Naccinarkiniyar, the annotator of Tolkappiyam, states that Karikala married a Velir girl from Nangur. He most certainly had more than one queen. There is evidence in Purananuru for Karikala’s faith in Saivism in the Tamil country. Purananuru (poem 224) movingly expresses his faith and the grief caused by his passing away:

He who stormed his enemies' forts undauntedly, who feasted his minstrels and their families and treated them to endless draughts of toddy, who in the assembly of 'Samayakuravas' noted for their knowledge of Dharma and purity of life, guided by priests learned in their duties and attended by his noble and virtuous queen, performed the vedic sacrifice in which the tall sacrificial post stood on a bird-like platform, within the sacrificial court surrounded by a high wall with round bastions, he, the great and wise king alas, is no more! Poor indeed is this world, which has lost him. Like the branches of the vengi tree, which stands bare, when their bright foliage has been stripped down by shepherds eager to feed their cattle in the fierce summer, are his fair queens, who have cast off their jewels.