CHAP. II.] 



IRRIGATION. 



431 



The first tank in Ceylon was formed by the successor 

 of Wijayo, B.C. 504, and their subsequent multiplication 

 to an almost incredible extent is ascribable to the 

 influence of the Buddhist religion, which, abhorring 



earliest occupations of the human race. 

 The Scriptures, in enumerating the 

 descendants of Shem, state that "unto 

 Eber were born two sons, and the 

 name of one was Peleg, for in his days 

 the earth was divided." (Genesis, ch. 

 x. ver. 25.) In this passage, according 

 to CYRIL C. GRAHAM, the term Peleg 

 has a profounder meaning, and the 

 sentence should have been translated 

 "for in his days the earth was cut 

 intocanals." (Cambridge JEssays,l858.) 

 But historical testimony exists 

 which removes all obscurity from the 

 inquiry as to who were the instruc- 

 tors of the Singhalese. The most 

 ancient books of the Hindus show 

 that the practice of canal-making was 

 understood in India at as early a period 

 as in Egypt. Canals are mentioned in 

 the Rayamana, the story of which be- 

 longs to the dimmest antiquity ; and 

 when Baratha, the half-brother of 

 llama, was about to search for him in 

 the Dekkan, his train is described as 

 including "labourers, with carts, 

 bridge-builders, carpenters, and dig- 

 gers of canals." (Ramayana, CART'S 

 Trans., vol. iii. p. 228.) The Maha- 

 wanso, removes all doubt as to the 

 person by whom the Singhalese were 

 instructed in forming works for irriga- 

 tion, by naming the Brahman engineer 

 contemporary with the construction 

 of the earliest tanks in the fourth 

 century before the Christian era. 

 (Mahawanso, ch. x.) Somewhat later, 

 B.C. 262, the inscription on the rock 

 at Mihintala ascribes to the Malabars 

 the system of managing the water for 

 the nee lands, and directs that " ac- 

 cording to the supply of water in 

 the lake, the same shall be distri- 

 buted to the lands of the wihara 

 in the manner formerly regulated by 

 the Tamils" (Notes to TURNOUR'S 

 Epitome, p. 90.) To be convinced of 

 the Tamil origin of the tank system 

 which subsists to the present day in 

 Ceylon, it is only necessary to see the 



tanks of the Southern Dekkan. _ The 

 innumerable excavated reservoirs or 

 colams of Ceylon will be found to cor- 

 respond with the culams of Mysore ; 

 and the vast erays formed by drawing 

 a bund to intercept the water flowing 

 between two elevated ridges, exhibit 

 the model which has been followed at 

 Padivil, Kandelai, Minery, and all the 

 other huge constructions of Ceylon. 

 But whoever may have been the ori- 

 ginal instructors of the Singhalese in 

 the formation of tanks, there seems 

 every reason to believe that from their 

 own subsequent experience, and the 

 prodigious extent to which they oc- 

 cupied themselves in the formation of 

 works of this kind, a facility was at- 

 tained in Ceylon unsurpassed by the 

 people of any other country, it is a 

 curious circumstance in connection 

 with this inquiry, that in the eighth 

 century after Christ, the King of 

 Kashmir despatched messengers to 

 Ceylon to engage workmen, whom he 

 employed in constructing an artificial 

 lake. (Raja-Tarangini, Book iv. si. 

 505.) if it were necessary to search 

 beyond India for the origin of culti- 

 vation in Ceylon, the Singhalese, in- 

 stead of borrowing a theory from 

 Egypt, might more naturally have 

 imitated the ingenious devices of their 

 own co-religionists in China, where 

 the system of irrigation as pursued in 

 the military colonies of that country 

 has been a theme of admiration in 

 every age of their history. (See Jour- 

 nal Asiatigue, 1850, vol. hi. pp. 341, 

 346.) And as these colonies were 

 planted not only in the centre of the 

 empire, but on its north-west extre- 

 mities towards Kaschgar and the 

 north-east of India, where the new 

 settlers occupied themselves in drain- 

 ing marshes and leading streams to 

 water their arable lands, the proba- 

 bilities are that their system may 

 have been known and copied by the 

 people of Hindustan. 



