# Gódávari/Chapter 4

CHAPTER IV.
AGRICULTURE AND IRRIGATION.
Wet Cultivation—Paddy; its seasons—Its varieties— Rain-fed paddy—Sowing versus transplantation—Methods of raising seedlings—Preparation of fields-Transplantation and care of the crop—Second-crop cultivation—Third crops Agricultural maxims—Wet crops other than paddy—Rotations—Cultivation of sugar-cane—Jaggery making—Ratooning—Varieties of sugar-cane—Recent sugar-cane disease and the Samalkot experimental farm. Dry Cultivation—Seasons, etc.—Cultivation—Cholam—Tobacco—Improvement of the leaf—Shifting cultivation in the Agency—Storage of grain. Irrigation— Protected area. The Godavari Anicut—Origin of the idea—First estimates—The site and design— Progress of construction—Subsequent difficulties—Alterations since effected—Distributary works—The Gannavaram aqueduct—Completion of distributaries— Financial results of the scheme—Possible extensions of it—Its administration. Other Irrigation Sources—Minor channels and tanks—Wells- Artesian wells. Economic Condition of Agriculturists.
The immense area irrigated from the Godavari anicut has naturally resulted in paddy being the most important crop in the district. The seasons for growing it in Bhadrachalam (where, however, very little is raised) differ from those elsewhere. In Bhadrachalam a short crop (pinna vari) is raised between May and August and a longer one (pedda vari) between August and January; while in the rest of the district the first (and chief) crop is grown between June and December and the second (if any) between January or February and April or May. The first crop season is called either the sarava {'white') season, from the fact that white paddy is grown in it, or the tolakari ('early') season; and the second is known as the dalava ('black') season, because black paddy is grown then, the sitakattu ('cold') season, since the crop is sown in January, or the vasangi ('hot') season, because it is reaped in May.
Except in the delta and Bhadrachalam, two wet crops are seldom raised on the same land, but a dry crop is raised when the paddy has been harvested. This dry crop season is called the payiru or aparalu season.
Many varieties of paddy are grown in the district. The ryots divide them according to two main principles of classification; namely, the time a variety takes to mature—whether it is long (pedda) or short (pinna or punasa)—and its colour—whether 'white' or 'black.' The varieties raised in the delta ​taluks, with their unfailing irrigation, naturally differ from those grown in the uplands of Peddpuram and Tuni, and both differ again from the favourite species in the different climate of Bhadráchalam. Apparently none of the white kinds are ever grown without irrigation; but on the other hand many varieties of black paddy are raised on wet lands. The most valuable and most popular species of all are called atrakadalu and akkullu, both of which are long white varieties. They are grown all over the district and have several sub-species. They require more water than the rest, but resist floods better. The kind known as, prayága (again long and white) is also very hardy, resisting droughts and floods equally well. The least valuable is the short white rasangi paddy, which is worth Rs. 10 less per garce than the atrakadalu and akkullu. Though most prolific, it is very indigestible. A kind of intoxicating liquor is extracted from it.
Rain-fed paddy is raised on lankas, superior dry land or high-level wet land. Only certain kinds of paddy will flourish in this way, and the outturn is naturally smaller than on irrigated land. The seed is sown broadcast without preliminary soaking when the early showers fall in June. Weeds are removed twice with a weeder (tollika) some two or three weeks after sowing and again a fortnight or a month later. In the upland taluks the ryots weed with what is called a gorru, a log of wood provided with iron or wooden teeth and drawn by cattle. The crop is ordinarily harvested in September or October, but the shorter Bhadráchalam crop is reaped in August.
Except in the case of this rain-fed crop, paddy is seldom sown broadcast, but is transplanted from seed-beds. In Rajahmundry, Pólavaram, Pithápuram and Tuni sowing is of necessity resorted to in the case of the very deep wet fields in which, owing to their low level, it is impossible to control the depth of the water in the manner necessary with transplanted seedlings. In these fields a special kind of paddy, called kásari, is sown (unsoaked) in May before the rains or floods are received, the field having been ploughed when dry. This variety does not mind being submerged. Broadcast sowing is also sometimes adopted by ryots who cannot afford the expense of transplantation, but this is generally looked upon as bad farming.
There appear to be four recognized methods of raising paddy in seed-beds, which are known as karédáku, mettapadunu, mokkáku and dúkáku. In the case of the two former, the beds are ploughed when quite dry, before water comes down the ​channels; while with the two latter they are not cultivated until they have been well soaked. The two former methods are very similar, the only noteworthy difference between them apparently being that in the karédáku system an inch of water is let in directly the grain is sown and is drained off an hour later, while in the mettapadunu method the seed is sown after rain and the land allowed to get quite dry again before any water is let on to it. Similarly the mokkáku and dúkáku systems closely resemble one another except that with the former the seed is soaked and allowed to sprout before being sown. The cultivation of the seed-beds when dry is far more popular than the rival method, and the dúkáku system seems to be confined to Cocanada taluk and the mokkáku chiefly to Nagaram and Amalápuram.
The fields are first levelled with a crowbar (geddapára) or a pickaxe (guddali), various kinds of manure (chiefly the dung of sheep and cattle penned on the field, village sweepings, ashes, and oil-cake — green manuring is rare) are next applied, and then the field is irrigated and ploughed. On heavy soils (as near Rámachandrapuram) the ploughing is done after rain and before flooding, lest the plough-cattle should sink too deeply into the soil. Ploughing is always done at intervals, so that the soil gets thoroughly aerated, but as it does not begin until floods come down the river, the intervals are short. The parts of the fields near the ridges, which the plough cannot get at properly, are dug up with mamuttis. The field is levelled with a plank called the patti, drawn by hand or by bullocks. In Bhadráchalam a log of wood with iron teeth (búruda gorru) is used.
The seedlings are transplanted in July or August. The usual rule governing the irrigation of them is to give them a span's depth of water until the ears are formed and then to allow the field to dry up. The water is changed periodically in order to obtain a fresh supply of silt and to wash away alkaline matter. In Amalápuram, however, as much as a foot of water is let in after the first fortnight, while in the middle of September the field is drained and left dry for the fortnight known as the uttara kárti because it is believed that worms which eat the stalks are generated in the water during that period.
Weeding is done one or two months after transplantation. In Amalápuram taluk manures of various kinds, such as gingelly, cocoanut and castor cake and a kind of fish called chengudi royyi are powdered and thrown broadcast over the fields three weeks after transplantation. ​The second wet crop does not follow as close on the first as in Tanjore. In the latter district the ryots get seedlings ready for transplantation in the seed-bed before the harvest of the first crop is over, whereas in Gódávari it is believed that seedlings will not thrive until the warm 'corn wind' (payiru gáli), which is expected in December, sets in from the south. The first crop is harvested in November or December, and seedlings for the second crop are sown in December or January and are ready for transplantation in February and March. The preparation of the field for the second crop is a somewhat perfunctory operation. Levelling is generally omitted; and, in Amalápuram, manuring is generally omitted also. The kinds of paddy most commonly used (outside Bhadráchalam) are called garika sannam and dálava.
Where the second crop is a dry crop, it is generally green, black, Bengal, or horse-gram, gingelly, or sunn hemp. Beans (anumulu), ragi and onions are also raised. Except Bengal gram, gingelly, ragi and onions, these are generally sown a week before the harvest of the wet crop and left to take care of themselves. For Bengal gram and gingelly, the field is ploughed and the seed is covered by dragging a green, leafy branch (kampa) across it, or, in sandy soil by ploughing it in. Ragi and onions are transplanted into plots about two yards square, made after the field has been ploughed without water five or six times in the course of a week, and are watered a week after transplanting and thereafter once a month.
Both cambu and gingelly are not infrequently grown as a third crop, sometimes called the punása crop. In Tuni (perhaps-elsewhere also) they are put down at the beginning of the first wet-crop season on the chance of the rains being late or insufficient and it being therefore impossible to grow a wet crop at the proper time, if at all. If the rains come while the crop is on the ground, it is either ploughed up to make room for the paddy, or, if nearly ripe, is left to mature, the paddy transplantation being delayed accordingly.
In Rajahmundry and Rámachandrapuram third crops are sometimes secured by growing a short wet crop between June and September, followed by a dry crop harvested by January, and then by a short paddy crop of the garika sannam, dálava or rájabhógala varieties, which is harvested in May.
The Gódávari ryots divide the six months from June to December into twelve kártis of about a fortnight each, called by the names of various stars. To each of these periods some agricultural operation or other is considered particularly appropriate. Even the Kóyas and hill Reddis, for example, ​believe that the best time for sowing paddy is the mrigasíra kárti, which begins about the end of the first week in June; the anúrádhá kárti (the latter part of December) is a name of happy augury, suggesting the harvest and the fulfilment of ryot's hopes; thunder on the first day of the magha kárti is the happiest possible omen for the future, and 'will make even a pole on a fort wall grow'; and so on. On the day before harvest the ryots run round their fields thrice repeating the name of the village goddess and crying out that she has given them a good crop. They then cut three handfuls of ears to represent the goddess and sacrifice fowls to them. When measuring the first heap of paddy of the first harvest of the year, they pour boiled rice-flour over it to propitiate the belly-god.
Next to paddy, the irrigated crops chiefly grown are sugarcane, betel, turmeric and plantains. Cocoanut and areca palms are also largely raised in Amalápuram and Nagaram taluks, and are occasionally irrigated. Sugar-cane is grown everywhere except in the Agency and the Tuni division, but is commonest in Peddápuram, Rámachandrapuram, Cocanada, Nagaram and Rajahmundry taluks. Betel on wet lands appears to be almost confined to Rámachandrapuram and Nagaram taluks and turmeric to Peddápuram, Rajahmundry and Amalápuram, in which last it is raised without irrigation. Plantains are found chiefly in Rámachandrapuram, Amalápuram and Nagaram. In Rajahmundry and elsewhere a kind of sweet potato ( mádapalam dumpa) is much cultivated.
As elsewhere, paddy is frequently grown year after year on the same land. When other crops are cultivated, a definite rotation is observed, but this differs widely in different parts. The ryots of Peddápuram and Pithápuram, for example, consider that an interval of two years is sufficient between two crops of sugar-cane, while those of Cocanada, Rajah- mundry and Amalápuram say that four years is necessary, and those of Rámachandrapuram and Nagaram from six to eight years.
In the cultivation of sugar-cane, the ground is sometimes broken up with a plough and sometimes with a crowbar. When a plough is used, the field is first well manured (in December or January) and then ploughed (without being flooded) from five to ten times. The ryots say the soil should be brought into such a soft and powdery condition that the footprints of the birds should be easily seen in it, and that a chatty full of water should neither spill nor break when dropped on to it. The field, still unirrigated, is next divided ​into small plots (spaces being left for the channels which are to be dug later on) either with a hoe or a plough.
The crowbar method of preparing the ground is partly adopted for the sake of economy, and so in this system manuring is also generally dispensed with. The jaggery which results is inferior, but the difference in the cost of cultivation is said to more than counterbalance this drawback. The land is dug up with the crowbar in January, and the clods are left to weather for ten days, when they are broken up and roughly powdered. The soil is not rendered sufficiently fine to be formed into plots without water, and the field has to be flooded.
Before planting the cuttings of sugar-cane the field is watered till it attains 'the consistency of cooked ragi' (ambali padunu) and then (in February or March) the cuttings are thrown on the ground and one end of them is pressed gently in with the foot. The tops are usually considered to make the best cuttings, but the rest of the cane is often used. The cuttings are kept in the shade for a fortnight before planting.
Regarding the irrigation of the crop, practice varies. In Peddápuram, for example, the field is flooded once a fortnight and then drained immediately. In Rámachandrapuram and Cocanada it is watered once a week, without draining off the water for six months; and then allowed to dry up as the rainy season approaches. The Peddápuram system is the better, since stagnant water injures the roots of the cane.1 Two months after being planted, the crop is manured round the roots with castor cake, green gram husk, bats' dung, or mud from the village site.2 In some places green gram is sown in the field and dug in as a green manure. Three weedings are made with a hoe (tolika) at intervals of a fortnight. When the crop has been about two months on the ground the plots are broken up and the irrigation trenches are dug, the soil from them being thrown round the roots of the cane. About four months after planting, the leaves are twisted round the canes to prevent them from cracking or being dried up by the sun, and to check the growth of weakening lateral shoots. In the fifth month the canes are supported by bamboos. The crop is cut in February with a bill-hook (póta katti) and made into jaggery the same day.
The canes are crushed in iron mills, and the juice is boiled for about two and a half or three hours with chunam (a piece ​of chunam the size of a tennis ball is added to every pan of eight pots, or l68 seers, of juice), until it reaches such a consistency that it will no longer drip from the finger. It is then put into a pot and well stirred, and afterwards poured on to a bamboo mat to set. Some of the ryots say that an acre of land generally yields 15 candies of jaggery worth Rs. 300, and that the cultivator makes a clear profit of Rs. 100.
Ratooning is usual. The ratooned crop is ready to cut in ten months. It is inferior to the first, but the saving in the cost of cultivation is considerable.1 Sometimes a third crop is cut.
Previous to the building of the Dowlaishweram anicut the cane grown in Gódávari was a thin, white, reed-like variety, similar to, if not identical with, the canes of Ganjám, South Arcot, Trichinopoly and other districts, which was called the désaváli or 'country' cane. Its hard rind enabled it to resist the attacks of jackals, so that it was possible to grow it at a distance from the villages; it did not require much water; and the jaggery it gave was small in quantity, though very sweet and white. When the anicut was made, softer, larger and more juicy canes were introduced. The síma variety, a stout dark kind sometimes called the Mauritius cane, was introduced about 1870 by Messrs. Cotton and Rundall for their factory near Rájavólu (Rázóle), but the history of the other species is obscure.
At the present time the kinds grown are désaváli or 'country,' bonthakarri or Bombay, erra or sannakarri, kéli, bontha or bontha námalu, námalu or sára, mogili and pálabontha (which seem to be only found in Rámachandrapuram taluk), and válu, confined to Peddápuram. The Bombay or bonthakarri is very similar to, and possibly identical with, the síma; its jaggery is poor and of a purple colour. The erra, or sannakarri variety is a thin, dark cane producing similar jaggery. The kéli is a white cane with a cracked bark giving watery juice which wants more boiling than usual. The bontha or bontha námalu is a stout, striped cane, but the jaggery it gives is said to be very inferior. The námalu is a thin, striped variety, also producing a bad jaggery. The mogili is a very thick kind with knots at short intervals; its jaggery is ​again like that of the Bombay cane, but it gives much juice and has hitherto shown a considerable immunity from disease. The pálabontha is a soft cane which is sold for chewing. The válu is like the 'country' cane, but a little thinner; and the juice is a little more watery and requires longer boiling. The mogili, 'country' and pálabontha canes grow only about six or seven feet high. The rest run up to nine feet.
About the end of the last century an obscure disease decimated the sugar-cane in the district. In March 1900 Government introduced cuttings from Hospet in Bellary, where disease was rare, but this did little good. The Government Botanist, Mr. C. A. Barber, was accordingly deputed to make a thorough investigation of the crops and the disease, and his report, dated 24th April 1901, threw much light on the subject and suggested the starting of a Government agricultural station at which the matter might be further studied. The station was opened in 1902 at Samalkot. It has been recently decided that it shall be a permanent institution.
The diseases of the sugar-cane in the district are described in Mr. Barber's first report. The moth borer, the ravages of which do such an infinity of harm in the West Indies and no small damage in Ganjám, is responsible for very little of the evil; perhaps owing to the scattered cultivation of the cane, or the system of tying the leaves round the stem, or the existence of its antagonist the Isaria Barberi fungus. The 'small borer,' or scolytid beetle, and the 'red smut,' or Collctotrichum falcatum fungus, are the greatest enemies of the Gódávari canes. These two pests go hand in hand and it cannot as yet be said which prepares the cane for the ravages of the other. The fungus manifests itself inside the cane in 'well marked blotches with a characteristic white centre.' It can attach itself to any abrasion on the surface of the cane, even to the scar left by a fallen leaf, and thence makes its entry into the tissues of the plant. It is very slow in its progress. The conidia of the fungus are found at the base of the black tufts of hair in the holes left by old dead roots, and as an incrustation on the surface of the dead and dried up canes below the origin of the leaf. If a cane infested with the 'small borer' is opened, the surface is found to be covered with a mass of small dark beetles about one-twelfth of an inch in length, which are seen busily emerging from and re-entering their small burrows. A strong vinous odour of fermented juice fills the air, and the infested canes are entirely useless for sugar. The evil acts very quickly. In the West Indian islands whole fields have been completely destroyed by it. ​The infection of the fungus can be carried by the air; but it seems likely that water, either flowing from infected fields or into which diseased canes and refuse have been thrown, is the chief agent for its diffusion. The water-logged condition of the ground, the lack of rotation, and the consequent exhaustion of the soil, are among other contributing causes.
A number of interesting results bearing upon defects in the present methods of sugar-cane cultivation have been obtained at the Samalkot farm by employing different manures, growing different varieties and raising selected canes under different systems. These are detailed in G.O. No. 1020, Revenue, dated 14th September 1904, pp. 20 ff. The chief conclusions arrived at are briefly: (l) that it is important to tread in the cuttings properly, (2) that they should be planted in rows so as to facilitate weeding, supervision and irrigation, (3) that they are best put out in trenches, (4) that the use of a rake to supplement two thorough weedings with the tolika would be easier and much less expensive than the use of the tolika throughout, (5) that green dressing is good, but that the plants usually employed by the ryots are leguminous and suffer from insect and other pests, and (6) that the use of cane trash as a mulch in the first instance and its burial in the fields after the canals are reopened has several advantages.
Other matters are under investigation; among them the best number of cuttings per acre, the quantity of water required, the abolition of the expensive bamboo supports, the advantages of ratooning, and the improvement of the methods of making jaggery.
The commonest dry crops are gingelly (núgu or nuvvu), cholam (jonna), horse-gram (ulava), ragi (tsódi), green gram (pesara), sunn hemp (janumu), castor (ámuda), cambu (gante), black gram (minumu), tobacco (pogáku), and Bengal gram (salaga or sanaga). Gingelly, horse-gram and ragi are most widely grown in Peddápuram and Rajahmundry. Cholam is chiefly raised in Bhadráchalam in the Agency, in all the upland taluks and in Amalápuram in the delta. Castor is popular in Pólavaram; cambu in Peddápuram; Bengal gram in Amalápuram, Peddápuram and Rámachandrapuram; and sunn hemp in Amalápuram, Nagaram and Cocanada. Tobacco grows best in the Gódávari lankas and in Yellavaram.
The two seasons of dry cultivation are known respectively as the tolakari or punása panta and the sítakattu or payiru panta. The former begins any time between May and July inclusive, and the latter between the beginning of September and the middle of December. With local exceptions, ragi, gingelly and cambu are grown in the first season; and horse-gram, ​cholam, castor, and black, green and Bengal gram in the second. No regular rotations are observed. In Bhadráchalam the ryots say vaguely that they vary the crop when it begins to fail for want of a change. In Peddápuram, Tuni, Amalápuram and Pólavaram they profess to change the crop every year and say that castor and Bengal gram require intervals of three and seven years respectively before they are repeated on the same land.
The place of rotation is to some extent taken by mixing the crops, a system which is usual everywhere. Typical and common combinations are horse-gram or black gram with ragi; dhall with ragi, sámai or gingelly; black gram and beans (anumulu) with cholam; and cambu with sámai or korra. The principal advantage of the system is that it economises space, a small or slow-growing crop being raised in the intervals between spreading or quickly-maturing plants.
In the delta and the Agency, manuring is rare; but it is frequent elsewhere. Ragi, tobacco and gingelly are thought to require it more than other crops. Fields are ploughed from four to six times, but twice is considered enough for horse-gram. Tobacco and onions seem to be always transplanted and cambu and ragi generally so. The seedlings are laid in a furrow and covered by ploughing another furrow alongside the first. Most of the other dry crops are sown broadcast, but castor and Bengal gram are sown seed by seed in a furrow, and in places a drill is used. The seed is covered by dragging a leafy branch across the field or ploughing again. Weeding of any kind appears to be the exception.
There appear to be four kinds of cholam in this district, namely two varieties (the mudda and the ralla) of yellow (pacha) cholam, white cholam (tella jonna or man jonna), and 'hill cholam' (konda jonna). The white variety is peculiar to Bhadráchalam and the 'hill cholam' to pódu cultivation. Yellow cholam is generally sown mixed with green gram. The seed is covered as usual. Six or eight weeks afterwards the field is lightly ploughed, which is believed to strengthen the young plants. In Pólavaram the ryots first weed the crop and loosen the soil with a gorru, a log of wood provided with iron or wooden teeth, which is drawn by bullocks. The crop is sown in October or November and is on the ground for three or four months.
There are two varieties of tobacco — lanka and pati. The former, which is much the superior, is grown on the alluvial soils of the lankas and banks of the Gódávari, which require no manure owing to their being covered with silt by the river ​every year. The latter is raised in fields near the villages. The crop is always transplanted. The seed is sown in seed-beds in the pubba kárti (first half of September) and transplantation takes place after the uttara kárti (at the end of that month), when the floods in the river have subsided, and sometimes as late as December. Great care is taken in the preparation of the seed-beds, the land being ploughed many times and plantifully manured with cattle-dung and ashes. Sheep-dung is usually considered hot and injurious, but is employed in Nagaram. Before sowing, the seed is mixed in the proportion of one to sixteen with sand, so as to enable it to be thinly scattered. It is sometimes soaked and kept for four or five days (like paddy) in a damp place until it germinates. The seed-bed is kept moist by daily (or even more frequent) sprinklings of water, and is also weeded almost daily. When the seedlings are from one and a half to two and a half months old they are transplanted at intervals from half a yard to a yard apart. They are frequently watered for three or four weeks, but not after that. The plants blossom in some six or eight weeks, and then their buds and tops are cut off to strengthen the eight or ten leaves' which remain. All lateral shoots are also cut off from time to time and so, at length, are the bottom two or three of the eight or ten leaves.
The crop is on the ground for five and a half months from the time it is sown. It is harvested at midday; and the leaves are left in the sun for two hours and then hung from strings in the shade for a fortnight. They are next pressed under weights for a month, after which water is sprinkled on them and they are fit for use.
Attempts are being made to improve the quality of the tobacco grown in the district. Messrs. T. H. Barry & Co. of Cocanada have established a tobacco factory in that town and foreign seed has been imported by Government for experimental cultivation in the lankas leased to Mr. T. H. Barry. The chief defect of the existing tobacco is the excessive thickness and dark colour of the leaf. It is sold in other parts of India and Burma and, to a limited extent, in Mauritius, Bourbon and London.
The majority of the hill Reddis and the Kóyas in the Agency carry on shifting cultivation, called pódu, by burning clearings in the forests. The conflict between their interests
is sometimes deserted for ever. The latter is in fashion in the more hilly and wilder parts, while the former is a step towards civilization.
In February or March the jungle trees and bushes are cut down and spread evenly over the portion to be cultivated; and, when the hot weather comes on, they are burnt. The ashes act as a manure, and the cultivators also think that the mere heat of the burning makes the ground productive. The land is ploughed once or twice in chalaka pódus before and after sowing, but not at all in konda pódus. The seed is sown in June in the mrigasíra kárti. Hill cholam and sámai are the commonest crops. The former is dibbled into the ground.
Grain is usually stored in regular granaries (kottu) or in thatched bamboo receptacles built on a raised foundation and called gádi. These are not found in Bhadráchalam or the central delta, where the puri (a high, round receptacle made of twisted straw) is used. Grain is also stored, as elsewhere, in pits.
The chief irrigation source of the district is the Gódávari, the channels from which protect 240,800 acres in all seasons. Some 4,600 acres of this are in Rajahmundry, and the rest in the delta taluks of Rámachandrapuram, Cocanada, Amalápuram and Nagaram. Tanks and channels from smaller rivers safeguard 31,800 acres in all seasons and 53,800 acres in ordinary seasons. Wells irrigate a very small area. Only in Amalápuram taluk does the extent protected by them rise above 100 acres.
The Gódávari water is rendered available by the great anicut at Dowlaishweram and the immense system of canals and channels leading off from it. Those in this district are shown in the accompanying map, and there are yet others in Kistna.
This anicut was the first of any real magnitude to be built by Europeans in this Presidency (the Cauvery system was an elaboration of native enterprize) and is one of the greatest triumphs of engineering skill in all India. Its history is of the greatest interest. Not only were the physical difficulties encountered in damming up so huge a river enormous, but the opposition of those who doubted the possibility and financial prospects of the work had to be overcome. Both were met by the engineers in charge of the project with indomitable perseverance and fortitude. ​The project consists of a dam across the Gódávari at Dowlaishweram (where the river is nearly four miles wide) and a net work of canals covering almost every part of the delta.1 Some of these canals are navigable, and the traffic along them is referred to in Chapter VII. The conception of the scheme was due to the genius of Sir Arthur Cotton. The idea of an anicut across the river originated2 as far back as 1789 with Mr. Topping, an astronomer in the service of the Madras Government who was appointed to survey the coast of the district in that year. It was revived in 1844 by Sir Henry Montgomery,3 who had been appointed (see p. 167) Special Commissioner to report on the best means of improving the then unhappy condition of the district. As a result of his recommendations. Sir Arthur (then Captain) Cotton of the Madras Engineers was ordered in 1845 to report professionally on the possibility of building an anicut on the river. He pronounced in favour of the idea; his representations were earnestly backed by the then Governor of Madras, the Marquis of Tweeddale; and the Court of Directors, in a despatch dated December 23rd, 1846, sanctioned the project.
Sir Arthur Cotton's first idea had been to build a dam above Rajahmundry similar to the two anicuts on the Coleroon which had been recently constructed under his supervision. But he eventually recommended that the work should be constructed just below Dowlaishweram, at the head of the delta. The breadth of the river was much greater there than above Rajahmundry, but a great portion of the width was occupied by islands, and the site had the great advantage of being close to a hill of coarse, strong sandstone 'of a degree of hardness exactly suited to the case; neither too hard to be expensive in working nor yet soft enough to be unfit for the purpose.' Round this hill, also, lay several hundred thousand tons of broken stone, the accumulations of years of native quarryings, which would be of great value for rubble work. The cost of constructing the anicut itself Sir Arthur estimated at only 4¾ lakhs, and that of the subsidiary works as 7¼ lakhs, or only twelve lakhs in all. At the same time he indulged in the most sanguine hopes of increased irrigation and revenue, and of a rich return upon this 'absurdly small' sum. It will be seen immediately that he very greatly under-estimated the cost of both dam and project. ​The breadth of the Gódávari at the point selected for the dam is rather over 3¾ miles; but of this more than a third is occupied by three islands and the head of the central delta, which separate the river into four channels. About a mile from the Dowlaishweram (or eastern) bank of the river is the island known as the Pichika-lanka, nearly 800 yards broad, the branches flowing on either side of which are known as the Dowlaishweram and Ráli branches respectively. Next beyond the Ráli branch comes the head of the central delta, known as the Bobbarlanka, which is about 470 yards wide. Then comes a narrow channel called the Maddúr branch; next the Maddúr lanka, about 630 yards broad; and, lastly, the fourth, or Vijésvaram, branch of the river. The lengths of the sections of the dam over each of the four branches, exclusive of under-sluices and wings, were as given in the margin. It will be seen that the total length of the work was about 4,000 yards. It was intended to be 12 feet high and connected with embankments on the different islands 2,455 yards in length.
| | Yards. |
| Dowlaishweram branch | 1,646 |
| Ráli branch | 953 |
| Maddúr branch | 516 |
| Vijésvaram branch | 866 |
The river bed was of pure sand and the islands were thin alluvial deposits thereon, while floods upwards of 25 feet in depth swept one and a half millions of cubic feet of water past the place every second. The problem how to bring the river under the necessary control at such a site was thus no easy one.
The actual design of the dam was modified more than once; and none of the sections across the various branches is precisely similar to any other. The original plans provided for a narrow crest with a vertical drop for the water on to a cut-stone floor behind, the section being very similar to that of the Upper Anicut on the Coleroon. Before work began, however, Sir Arthur adopted a very different design with a broad crest and a long sloping apron behind it of rubble masonry covered with cut-stone. The great advantage of this was that it required much less cut-stone work, for skilled masons were exceedingly scarce. It was not adhered to universally, different modifications being introduced in each of the four sections, but the general principle of a long rough-stone apron was retained in all. This had a very serious drawback, the full effect of which its designer did not first appreciate. Water rushing down such a sloping apron sets up reverse under-currents which tend to scour holes in the river bed and so undermine the foundation of the work. It was soon found that a further extension of the apron by a long ​rough-Stone talus was necessary, and at the present time it is from three to six times as wide as it originally was, and its thickness has been greatly increased by the enormous quantities of stone thrown in to make good the sinkage which has from time to time taken place. In the first twenty years of the anicut's existence over 500,000 tons of stone were used for this purpose, and vast quantities more have been used since. Nowadays very little is required, and that only at certain places.
Another considerable change in the original design was the adoption of the plan of founding the anicut on the sand confined between its face wall and the retaining wall at the toe of the apron, instead of upon a mass of loosely deposited stone. The Ráli branch alone was constructed on the latter method and its foundations were the only ones which gave any trouble. They allowed the water to pass through in great quantities.
Three sets of under-sluices of fifteen vents each were built, one near the head-sluice of each of the main canals of the three sections of the delta. Three locks were also built, one at the head of each of those canals. Three head-sluices were also ultimately necessary.
The sanction of the Court of Directors to the execution of the work was received early in 1847. In April of that year operations were vigorously commenced. A detachment of Sappers and Miners was posted to Dowlaishweram, and a Sub-Collector (Mr. H. Forbes) was appointed to superintend the recruitment and payment of labourers and to procure the necessary supplies. His exertions (it may here be noted) were more than once acknowledged to have contributed largely to the success of the work (Sir Arthur said 'his vigorous and active measures have roused this district to a degree that could not have been expected') and he was specially thanked in the Government order reviewing the completion of the project. Before July had arrived, as many as 10,200 labourers, 500 carpenters and the same number of smiths had been collected to put in hand preliminary preparations. Boats were built, railway waggons constructed, the quarry opened and two double lines of rail ran from it to different points on the river banks, and the embankments on the islands put in hand.
In the working season of 1848 the actual construction of the dam was begun, and the Dowlaishweram and Maddúr sections were both built to the height of nine feet, and good deal of work was also done to the Dowlaishweram and Vijésvaram sluices. In the middle of 1848 Sir Arthur Cotton ​had to go Home on leave 'exhausted by unremitting work and anxiety'; and for the next two years his place was taken by Captain (afterwards General) C. A. Orr, R.E., who had from
the first been his most successful lieutenant and to whom much of the credit for the completion of the undertaking is due.
Next year (1849) the whole of the Vijésvaram section was built to a height of nine feet under circumstances of great difficulty. The work could not be begun until February 10th owing to want of funds. During its progress a sudden rise in the river breached it, and extensive temporary dams had to be erected to turn the river away from it. It was completed by the end of May. The season's operations also included the repair of 80 yards of the Maddúr section, the raising of the whole section by one and a half feet, the completion of the head and under-sluices and locks both at Dowlaishweram and Vijésvaram, of the under-sluice and wing walls of the Rail section and of about 50 yards at each end of this section, and the lengthening of the Dowlaishweram section by some 250 yards.
At the beginning of the following year (1850) the only outlet for the whole stream of the Gódávari was down the Ráli branch, the section across which alone remained to be completed. A temporary dam of loose stone had been made across this in 1848 and strengthened in 1849 to prevent the stream from cutting too deep a channel in the bed of the river; but the water escaped both through and over this, and it became necessary to make it water-tight and high enough to turn the stream down the Dowlaishweram and Vijésvaram branches, and through the head and under-sluices in them. This would have been no easy matter at any time, but now considerably more water than usual was passing down owing to heavy rain in Hyderabad and Nagpore.
An exciting struggle with the river ensued. In February about 50 yards of the temporary dam was swept away, and no sooner was the damage repaired than 80 yards more was washed down stream. This branch was nearly closed when the river asserted itself and widened it to 80 yards again, surging through the narrow opening between 20 and 30 feet deep. With immense difficulty this breach was at length closed and the river turned aside on the 23rd April, and before the end of the next month the Ráli section was completed to a height of 10½ feet. The head-sluice and lock on this section were built the same year, and the great anicut was thus at last an accomplished fact.
Though the battle was now won, the difficulties were far from over. On the 9th June 1850 the river began to rise ​Steadily, It was passed through the Dowlaishweram and Ráli under-sluices, but the apron behind the latter was only 25 feet wide, and on the l7th June it began to sink. The sluices were closed and an attempt was made to replace the apron; when suddenly the great head of water forced the sand from beneath the foundation of the sluices into the hollow formed by the sinking of the apron, and a portion of the sluices fell in. Seven out of fourteen piers collapsed; but fortunately the massive masonry formed a dam preventing any great rush of water and gave time for measures to be taken to check the extension of the damage.
In the working season of 1851 and the early part of 1852 these under-sluices were rebuilt and the finishing touches were put to the anicut and head-works. Their virtual completion may be considered to have been achieved by March 31st, 1852.
Large repairs and alterations in the dam have been carried out since its first construction. The constant additions to the rough-stone aprons have already been alluded to, and another important improvement has been the raising of the crest of the work. Even before it was finished in 1852, its height was found insufficient to secure an adequate supply of water to the canals at all seasons; and cast-iron grooved posts, fitted with horizontal planks to hold up when necessary an additional two feet of water, were fixed along its crest. This was still insufficient; and between 1862 and 1867 the masonry itself was raised two feet at a cost of nearly three lakhs, and the iron posts and planks were replaced on the top of the new work. In 1897-99 the crest was raised an additional nine inches with Portland cement concrete, and on this were fitted self-acting cast-iron shutters, two feet high, which fall automatically when the water rises to six inches above their tops.
The only serious accident to the anicut itself happened in 1857. On the 14th November of that year, when the season for floods was over and the water was comparatively low, the eastern end of the Maddúr branch suddenly subsided into a deep scour-hole below it, and a breach was formed through which the river poured with such depth and volume that it was impossible to stop it. The disaster was met by damming up the river (with great difficulty) some way above the anicut and then rebuilding the fallen portion. The operation cost half a lakh.
The three sets of head-locks, head-sluices and under-sluices, have all been altered or replaced at various times, and of the original constructions only one head-sluice and the three sets of under-sluices now survive. The original Vijésvaram head-lock was destroyed in the floods of 1852. It ​was rebuilt next year, but was eventually converted into sluices; and the present head-lock was built in 1891. The original Vijésvaram head-sluices fell in 1853; were rebuilt in 1854; and are still in use. The central delta head-sluices fell in 1878 in a high flood, and great difficulty was experienced in preventing damage to the canal below. The head-lock beside them became so shaky that in 1889-90 it was replaced by a new one. Of the eastern delta works, the head-lock toppled over in 1886, when there was 14½ feet of water on the anicut. It carried the lock gates with it and left a gap into the canal fifteen feet wide, through which the water poured. The river continued to rise, and in two days reached the then unprecedented height of 17 feet above the anicut, so that the breach was only stopped with great difficulty. A new lock in a rather better position was built next year and opened on Jubilee day.
A gradually increasing shoal which has been forming on the left side of the Gódávari river above the Dowlaishweram branch of the anicut has been for some time past a source of anxiety and of inconvenience to navigation. The old Dowlaishweram under-sluices not being sufficiently powerful to arrest the progress of this shoal towards the head-sluice, it was considered necessary to build more powerful substitutes for them. An estimate was sanctioned in 1903 and the work is now in progress. The new under-sluices are to consist of ten vents 20 feet wide and 10 feet high, regulated by iron lift shutters and with their sill four feet below that of the head-sluice. The shutters are to be in two tiers — the upper measuring 20 feet by 6 feet and the lower 20 feet by 4 feet —are to be constructed of half inch plates stiffened with rolled steel beams I2 feet by 6 feet, and are to be worked by chain gearing arrangements.
Simultaneously with the construction of the head-works, arrangements were made for carrying to the various parts of the delta the water they rendered available. Even before the building of the anicut, certain portions of the delta had been irrigated. Sir Henry Montgomery's report of 1846 already mentioned deplored the neglect with which the then existing channels had been treated, and Sir Arthur Cotton described them as partial works of small extent not kept in an effective state. They were merely inundation channels, the heads of which were 12 or 15 feet above the deep bed of the river, and they received a supply only during floods, or for about 50 days in the year. Some of them lay on the western side of the river in the present Kistna district; the central delta contained none worth mention : but on the eastern side of the river four ​considerable channels were in existence. One of these, called the Tulya Bhága, led off from near the site of the anicut and ran in a fairly straight line to Cocanada, terminating in the salt creek there. In 1846 a branch was taken from it to Samalkot from near Dowlaishweram. These two channels were connected with the head-works of the eastern delta.
At the end of 1849 a start was made with the new distributary works, sanction being obtained to the cutting of the main canals in the eastern and central deltas, the first of which (see the map) leads along the river bank nearly as far as Yanam and the second runs past Ráli. In April 1851 the western delta main canal (now in the Kistna district) was sanctioned, and in February 1852 considerable extensions of the eastern main canal and large distributary works in the central delta, including the great Gannavaram aqueduct, were agreed to.
This aqueduct carries a large canal across a branch of the Gódávari to the Nagaram island, which is surrounded by the sea and two arms of the river and to which water can only be taken in this way. The aqueduct may be roughly described as an arched bridge of brick thrown across the branch of the river, upon which, in the place where the roadway of an ordinary bridge is laid, runs a channel from 22 to 24 feet broad and some four feet deep. Its total length between abutments is 2,248 feet, and it consists of 49 arches with 40 feet waterway and 48 piers 6 feet thick. Ordinarily, the water of the branch of the river across which it is thrown flows through the arches of the aqueduct, but in times of high flood it completely submerges the whole work and pours over the top of it. It was impossible to make the aqueduct higher, because of the expense and danger involved in raising the embankments of the channels connected with it to a corresponding height above the level of the surrounding country. The work had therefore to be made of sufficient strength to resist floods sweeping over it.
The most noteworthy fact about the work is the wonderfully short period within which it was built. The estimate was submitted by Sir Arthur Cotton in August 1851 but was not sanctioned till February 14th 1852. It was considered of paramount importance to finish the work before the floods of that year came down, and, to effect this, extraordinary efforts were necessary. Between the first preparation of the materials for the work and the completion of all its 49 arches only four months elapsed, and in another four it was ready for its work. 'In any part of the world,' says Mr. Walch in his book already cited,' this would have been a noteworthy achievement; in an ​out-of-the-way part of the Madras Presidency, where machinery was almost unobtainable and most of the skilled labour had to be trained as the work went on, it was an extraordinary feat.' The construction was under the charge of Lieutenant (afterwards General) G. T. Haig, R.E., and his energy and skill are commended in the highest terms by Sir Arthur Cotton: 'That a single officer with two or three overseers should have managed about 5,000 workmen, and with the help of only one or two efficient workmen, is one of the most surprising things I have met with. Every time I visited the work I was astonished at the energy and admirable arrangement of this young officer. I cannot say less than that I think him the most effective officer I have ever had attached to me, I have never yet seen such energy displayed by any other man.' It is, in truth, difficult to realize, as one views this imposing work, that it was actually completed in one working season.
Money for further extensions of the distributary works was at first grudged by Government, who were sceptical of the prospects of the scheme and aghast at the enormous excess over the original estimates of expenditure which had been incurred. 'The records teem with remonstrances from Colonel Cotton and with minutes,' 'notes' and letters by Governors, Members of Council, Boards and Secretaries, now wrathful and now penned more in sorrow than in anger, on the subject of the surprises which Colonel Cotton was springing on them in his demands for what they considered unexpected developments of the original scheme, or to cover expenditure incurred on work which had not been sanctioned or had been much altered or largely exceeded in execution. . . . On the one hand was the enthusiast whose genius and special knowledge enabled him to see clearly that what he proposed to do was in the best interests of Government as well as of the people, and who was impatient of delay; on the other hand were the controlling powers who held the purse strings and whose duty it was to check too hurried an advance along a path the issue from which to them was obscure.'1 It was not till 1853 that the success of the project became so apparent that funds were granted readily for its development. From that time onwards the canal and channels were rapidly pushed forward. At the present time there are in the Gódávari district (not counting the works in Kistna, on the western bank of the river) 287 miles of canal (nearly all of which are navigable) and 1,047 miles of distributaries. ​The total capital outlay on the whole scheme up to the end of 1904-05 is returned as Rs. 1,36,93,000, the gross receipts of that year at Rs. 35,58,000, the annual working expenses at Rs. 9,10,000, and the net revenue at Rs. 26,48,000 or 19.34 Per cent, on the capital outlay. The benefits and increase of wealth which the project has conferred upon the people of the district are incalculable. The misery it has prevented may be gauged from a perusal of Chapter VIII below, where the ghastly sufferings from famine which the people endured before its construction are faintly indicated.
Mr. Walch considers that 'it may be assumed that there is land available for an extension of irrigation of at least 100,000 acres; exclusive of the considerable areas in the Coringa and Pólaram islands, to both of which anicut water could be taken without any very serious engineering difficulty; to the former by a tunnel or articulated pipes and to the latter by an aqueduct across the Vriddha Gautami.' Whether, however, sufficient water can be rendered available for any such extension is another matter. For some three months in every year vastly more water comes down the river than is required for the area at present irrigated, and this excess pours uselessly over the anicut and down to the sea. But in almost every season the period of superabundance is followed by one of scarcity, the water barely sufficing for the present area of wet crops. Either therefore the 'duty' of the water must be increased (no easy matter) or some method of storage must be resorted to. It has been suggested1 that reservoirs might perhaps be formed on the Saveri or one of its larger tributaries.
The administration of the irrigation works of the central and eastern deltas in this district involves the maintenance of a large establishment. An Executive Engineer and two Assistant Engineers are in charge of them exclusively, the rest of the district being administered by another Executive Engineer with an Assistant Engineer subordinate to him; and under their orders are the anicut superintendent and sub-overseers, who supervise the distribution of the water, the conservancy establishment in charge of the locks and river embankments, and the navigation establishment referred to in Chapter VII. A new division for the conservancy of the river bed is being organized.
The embankments give much trouble in times of high freshes, and the country is not yet adequately protected from the effects of abnormal floods. In 1886, 1892 and 1900 the ​embankments breached and serious inundations were caused. Most of them have been raised since 1900. Drainage, though Other not so burning a question as in the Tanjore delta, is a matter of great difficulty near the coast, where the fall of the land is very gradual. Large tracts there are liable to be flooded by a heavy north-east monsoon.
As above remarked, the district contains 31,800 acres protected in all seasons by minor channels and tanks, and 53,800 acres safeguarded in ordinary seasons. Of this extent, the greater part lies in Rajahmundry (20,300 and 27,300 acres respectively) and Peddápuram (18,400 acres in ordinary seasons). In Pólavaram, Cocanada and Bhadráchalam only 2,800 acres, 1,300 acres and 100 acres respectively are protected by these sources in all seasons, and in ordinary seasons 2,800 acres in Yellavaram, 100 acres in Chódavaram and an additional 1,700 acres in Pólavaram. Tanks occur in all these tracts. The largest in the district is at Lingamparti in Peddápuram taluk, which irrigates 4,686 acres. Other considerable reservoirs are the Kottapalli tank (970 acres), the Kápavaram tank (823 acres), and the Ganapavaram tank (686 acres), all in Rajahmundry. The only considerable minor channels are those from the Yeléru, which irrigate some 8,000 acres in Peddápuram taluk and a further extent in the Pithápuram zamindari. A small area in Peddápuram is also irrigated from the Ravutulapúdi stream.
Irrigation from wells is very rare in the uplands and the Agency, and the only taluk in the district in which over 100 acres is so watered is Amalápuram. Cheap temporary wells are sunk in small numbers in parts of Peddápuram, Tuni, Cocanada and Rámachandrapuram. In the two latter they are only used for about two months in each year, average 12 feet in depth, and hold some six feet of water. In Cocanada they are called doruvu wells. In Tuni they last much longer and more labour is expended on them. On the Yalésvaram river shallow wells are dug which last for five or six years. It is only in Nagaram and Amalápuram taluks that permanent revetted wells are found. They are very large, from 18 to 24 feet deep, hold from six to twelve feet of water, are revetted with bricks and are said to be very ancient. They are sometimes called 'Jain' wells, and are supposed to date from the days when the Jain faith prevailed in the country;1 in Amalápuram they are sometimes called 'Reddis' wells.' They are largely used for the irrigation of areca and cocoanut palm plantations, and the supply in them is said to be practically perennial. The ordinary water-lift employed in the ​central delta is the kapila or mótu worked by bullocks, but the picottah (called tokkudu yétham) is usual elsewhere.
A peculiarity of the district is its artesian wells. The existence of an artesian supply was accidentally discovered while digging an ordinary well in the railway-station compound at Samalkot in 1892-93, the water being encountered at a depth of about eighty feet. Since then several other artesian wells have been sunk; namely, a second in the station compound, two in 1904 in the sugar refinery at the same place (water being reached at some 110 feet), and a fifth in the railway-station yard at Cocanada Port, where the water was nearly 300 feet below ground level. Artesian water has also been found on the Pólavaram and Yernagúdem border during the recent explorations for coal in that neighbourhood but borings at Pithápuram have been unsuccessful.
In the zamindaris the ryots have usually no admitted occupancy right. They pay money rents fixed each year. In the Agency, the tenants of the muttadars are apparently protected from 'rack-renting and eviction by the scarcity of cultivators and the consequent desire of each landholder to keep those he has.
In Government land, fields are frequently sub-let by the pattadars, the consideration being either a share of the actual crop (samgóru) or, much more commonly, a fixed payment in money or grain called sist.
The sharing system seems to be chiefly restricted to inferior wet land, and under it the crop is everywhere divided equally between the landholder and the tenant. The latter usually finds the seed, the cattle and the labour, but in Bhadráchalam a landholder will often let his permanent farm-servants cultivate a piece of his land with his cattle and seed on condition of receiving half the crop resulting.
Fixed rents are only paid in grain in the case of wet land. Grain rents are usually rather lower than money rents, as there is less chance of evading payment of them. The tenant, as before, finds seed, cattle and labour; but in Pithápuram a variant called the backyard (peradu) system prevails under which the landholder lends the cattle. Agricultural labourers are either farm-servants engaged by the year (pálikápu) or coolies hired by the day or job. The former usually engage themselves for the whole year to some landholder, who then has the exclusive right to their services. Accounts are settled, and fresh engagements made, on the eleventh day of the bright fortnight of the month Ashádha (July-August), which is well known throughout the district under the name of 'the initial ékádasi' (toll ékádasi). Then, as the proverb significantly ​says, 'the pálikápus are companions to their master's sons-in-law,' they remind him of his petty tyrannies during the past year and haggle over the renewal oi their agreements.
The rates of wages for pálikápus, which are always fixed by the year and (except in Bhadráchalam) in paddy, vary, when commuted into money at the usual rate of 10 kunchams per rupee, from Rs. 24 (or one anna a day) in Pólavaram to Rs. 60 (two annas, eight pies a day) in Peddápuram, Pithápuram, Rajahmundry and Rámachandrapuram. These labourers are also given a small varying quantity of straw and unthreshed paddy at the end of the year, a new cloth, some tobacco and a palmyra tree, or, if the master has no palmyras, a gift of one rupee. They also get advances of their wages free of interest. In Amalápuram various different customs prevail. These rates of wages are said to have increased by one-third or one-half in the last ten or fifteen years. Payment is usually made at the end of the year.
The day labourer is paid from two to four annas a day, women getting half these rates. The rates of wages were only about half these sums a few years ago. Labour, however, is not really scarce. The great immigration from Vizagapatam (p. 38) has done much to supplement it, and there is no 'labour problem' as in some places, the Tanjore delta, for example. The rates of interest on loans are much the same as usual, 12 to 24 per cent, being common. Loans are often made on the security of standing crops on the condition that they shall be sold to the sowcar at less than the market price, an arrangement which is known as the jatti system.
* ↑ 1 Papers printed with G.O. No. 1193, Revenue, dated 30th December 1901, p. 24. Cf. G.O. No. 1020, Reventie, dated 14th September 1904, p. 31.
* ↑ 2 The 'saltpetre earth' of Mr. Benson's report, G.O. No. 28, Revenue, dated 11th January 1884, pp. 7, 14.
* ↑ 1 The advantages of ratooning are still the subject of careful experiment at the Samalkot experimental farm. G.O. No. 1020, Revenue, dated 14th September 1904, p. 29. Much of what follows has been taken from the report of Mr. C. A. Barber, the Government Botanist, in G.O. No. 1193, Revenue, dated 30th December 1901, pp. 21 foil.
* ↑ 1 The following brief sketch has been for the most part abstracted from the graphic account, in The Engineering works of the Gódávari delta, by Mr. G. T. Walch, late Chief Engineer for Irrigation, Madras, published by the Government Press in 1896.
* ↑ 2 First report of the Public Works Commission at Madras, 1852, p. 100.
* ↑ 3 His report dated 18th March 1844, para. 40.
* ↑ 1 Mr. Walch, op. cit., p. 89.
* ↑ 1 Mr. H. E. Clerk's Preliminary Report for the Irrigation Commission (1902), 3, 50.
* ↑ 1 See Chapter III, p, 39.