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No. 4.7
PORUMAMILLA TANK INSCRIPTION : SAKA 1291.
whom I had addressed on the subjeot. The tank, which is situated about two miles and as the inscription also tells us) to the east of the village called Porumāmilla, is elongated in shape, being some 7 miles long and 2 miles broad. The band consists of four natural hills connected by three short earthon dams, rivetted with Cuddapah slabs. The western flank thus consists of practically the range of hills which runs north and south between Porumā. milla and Bad vol. The total length of the artificial band is about 4,500 ft. ; the total length including the hills is about 14,000 ft. At the deepest section the band is about 12 ft. wide at the top and 150 ft. at the bottom, and about 33 ft. deep. The tank has two sources of supply, one natural and the other artificial. The latter was constructed about 20 years ago. The natural feeder is & stream called the Maldovi river.-The reservoir is provided with four sluices, two of which have been repaired in recent times and provided with screw. gear, and there are five weirs. This is the actual condition of the tank at present.
From the inscription we learn that in the twelfth century of the Christian era tank-building was looked upon as one of the seven meritorious acts which a man onght to perform during his lifetime. The tank at Porumāmilla was called Anantaraja-sågara. It is also stated that for two years 1,000 labourers were working daily on the tank and the dam; and 100 carts were engaged in getting stones for walls which formed a part of the masonry work, The dam was 5,000 rēkha-dandas long, including the hills, 8 rekha-dandas wide, and 7 high. Besides, the author gives us the twelve sadhanas of the Poramānilla tank, and six doshas of tanks in general. Much of this latter is clothed in very obscure language. Nevertheless with the help of the description of the tank given in the previous paragraph wo are able to get.. fairly clear notion of what the author wishes to convey. In the chatur-bhramd-jala-gati wa have a reference to the four sluices; and in the range of hills forming the western flank of the tank we must look for an explanation of remarkable phrase tadyoga-khando girih. Again, as the Maldēvi river ends at the tank, the triyðjana must needs refer to its length from the sourco to the point at which it enters the tank.-One fact which may be gleaned from the measurements of the tank preserved in the record is of Do small significance. Knowing as we do the dimensions of the band, in terms of the rëkha-dandas as well as in feet, we are in a position to compute the equivalent of this standard of linear measurement corrent in the Telugu District in the 14th century. For this purpose it would be safest to compare the values for the height of the bund, which, I imagine, would offer the least variation. In the above-mentioned Report of the Collector, 33 ft. is quoted as the height at the deepest section of the bund. Taking, now, 20 ft. As the minimum height for the bund of any large tank of that size, the average height of the band in feet works out to be (20+33)+2=53/2 ft. This must roughly correspond to the 7 rēkha-dandas of the inscription. The equation will be 53/2 = 7, and this gives us roughly 10 yard as the equivalent of the rêkha-danda, wbich, by the way, corresponds approximately to the distance from the tip of the shoulder of one arm to the tip of the middle finger of the other arm, measured along the chest, for an average man. I mention the latter fact, as it is well known that in primitive times a standardised (but looally varying) value of the lengths of portions of the human body served as units of length; of the Indian measures uriguli, hasta, danda, and the European foot.
One other feature of this record deserves mention here. Early in the beginning of the in-cription (vv. 1-3) we find enumerated the characteristics of an odiot (6dsana-lakshana), which include hinta on composition and the significance of the metrical fuot (gana) with
Some time ago, when I visited the site of the tank, I took the opportunity of verifying and correoking the statements in this report. Some fow fresh observations which I made on the spot have also been embodied in the Sucovding reibarks.
• See notes 6-8 on p. 108 and 1-2 on p. 109.
Expressed by the ohronogram dha-Nasdy-sholy-ika, and in numerical symbols.
