Our life and history woven around water

AHMEDABAD: In a state that is largely arid such as

Gujarat

, building large water tanks, stepwells and lakes was an act of immense public service earning the patron builder much goodwill in the process. Of course, the most noticeable examples of these were the stepwells this column has traced over the last few months. But by far the most significant were the huge artificial tanks created in urban centres.


Tanks such as the Kankaria in the heart of Ahmedabad. An inscription inside the tank mentions that it was completed during the reign of Sultan Qutb-ud-din Ahmad Shah II, in the year 1451. While another account holds that it was originally a creation of the Chalukyan era, what there is no doubt about is the fact that it was a phenomenal project. The 34-sided polygon shaped Kankaria covers a whopping 76 acres. At six points, steps gave access to the water. The icing on this was probably the garden-island in the middle of the tank, with a stone bridge connecting it to the bank. The tank also had a water purification system which is entirely lost now.

Outside the city, at Sarkhej, the Sultan Mahmud Begada developed such a liking for the place that he created a massive artificial lake, complete with pavilions on its banks. The lake at Sarkhej was part of a network of lakes in the area which fed off each other. A little more than a decade ago, one could see rare birds in this lake on a winter morning. What changed? The same sad story of unplanned urban expansion and ‘development’ – construction along the Sarkhej-Gandhinagar highway led to a loss of green cover, which, when coupled with encroachment in the path of feeding drains meant that today the Sarkhej lake has water only during a short period of monsoon rain.

To the north, in Patan, lies the Sahasralinga Talav. Originally the talav fed off the water received from a river. While the tank is entirely dry now, this Chalukyan era creation shows how old the tradition of tank building in our state is. Believed to be the site of the murder of Bairam Khan, Mughal Emperor Akbar’s general, the talav has had its moments in history.

As the

Water Legacy

column now winds down, it is perhaps important to underline one small fact – the need to constantly repair and conserve these traditional reservoirs of water and to conserve the ecosystem around them. Of the examples mentioned here, today only the Kankaria

remains alive

as a water body and remains true to its original purpose. Its conservation in 2008 has brought it back into the young urban resident’s mind-space and given us all an example of how restoration of such water bodies and related structures and rejuvenate public places. May our state’s water legacy survive and thrive.