ANCIENT AGRICULTURE ;- SOIL PROFILE AND IRRIGATIONAL MEASURE

 Ancient agricultural practices 

Traditional farming practices in India 

Soil Classification

 In ancient times geographical distribution by Surapala was jangala (arid), anupa (marshy) and samanya (ordinary). It is further divided by colour into black, white, pale, dark, red and yellow by taste into sweet, sour, salty, pungent, bitter and astringent. Samanya land was suitable for all kinds of trees. Rig-veda identified productive and non-productive soils. There were 12 classification based on soil fertility, irrigation and physical characteristics. 

 These soil classifications are as follows :

 1. Urvara (fertile)

 2. Ushara (barren) 

3. Maru (desert)

 4. Aprahata (fallow)

 5. Shadvala (grassy)

 6. Pankikala (muddy)

 7. Jalaprayah (water)

 8. Kachchaha (land contiguous to water)

 9. Sharkara (full of pebbles) 

10. Sharkaravari (sandy)

 11. Nadimatruka (land water from river) 

12. Devamatruka (rainfed) 

Another classification based on crops suitable

 a. Vrdiheyam (rice (rainfed) / corn)

 b. Shaleyam (kamala (wet) rice)

 c. Tilyam (sesamum) 

d. Mashyam (blackgram) 

e. Maudginam (mung bean) Sangam, Tamil literature classified soils as mullai (forest), Kuringi (hills), marudham (cultivable) and neithal (coastal). 

Maintenance of soil productivity

 Traditional soil management practices are the product of centuries of accumulated knowledge, experience and wisdom refined and perpetuated over generations. 

These practices were evolved within the framework of local technical possibilities.

 They enlivened the soil, strengthened the natural resources diversify and maintained the production levels in accordance with the carrying capacity of agro-ecosystem without damaging it. 

Ancient farmers mostly relied on crop residues, manures, legumes and neem for enriching soil fertility.

 In Kirishi -

 parashara, it is stated that crops grown without manure will not give yield and stressed the importance of manures. 

He also recommended compost preparation from cow dung. 

The dried, powdered cow dung is placed in pit for decomposition where weed seeds are destroyed. The time duration for composting is two weeks. 

Kautilya mentioned the use of cowdung, animal bones, fishes, milk as manure. 

Surapala describes the ancient practice of preparing liquid manure (kunapa) prepared by boiling a mixture of animal excreta, bone marrow, flesh, dead fish in an iron pot and then add it to sesame oil cake, honey and ghee. 

This is clearly evident that present day Panchakavya is prepared in the same way and used in all crops.

 Liquid manure (Kunapa) :

 Preparation of kunapa involves boiling flesh, fat, and marrow of animals such as pig, fish, sheep or goats in water, placing it in earthen pot, and adding milk, powders of sesame oil cake, black gram boiled in honey, decoction of pulses, ghee and hot water. There is no fixed proportion of ingredients. The pot is put in a warm place for two weeks. This fermented liquid manure is called kunapa.

 Green manures :

 In Rajasthan : 

Prosopis cineraria - brings up moisture and nutrients from the underground and leaves used as green manure.

 In Tamil Nadu :

 Calotropis gigantiea, Mortinda tinctoria Theprosia purpurea, Jatropha, Ipomoea Adathoda

 In North India : 

A traditional weed Kochia indica used as green manure. Ancient farmers adopted crop rotation and inter cropping to restore soil fertility. Mixed or inter cropping with legumes in cereal and oil seed cultivation were widely practices. All these practices adopted in ancient time are now being recommended today under organic farming concept. 

Water harvesting and irrigation developments during different periods –

 water storage – 

Distribution and relevance to modern agriculture. 

The need for continuous supply of water for irrigation whether from canal, well, pond or lake is realized as the most important for agriculture in ancient period. The different irrigation principles adopted in ancient period are : 

 Construction of large mud embankment on a stone foundation for diverting flood water.

  Building of small tanks.

  Severe penalty was imposed when water is let out other than sluice gate. 

 Extensive tank irrigation systems were adopted in Sri Lanka and later in South India. In Sri Lanka ancient kings practiced that not even a drop of rainfall should go to sea without benefiting man. 

 The topography of Telengana region of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka is ideally suited for the construction of tanks. A special feature of tanks in Telengana tank construction in series, by bunding the same valley at several points and surplus water from lower elevation and so on. Even now the tanks constructed by chola king in the same way exist today in Tamil Nadu.

  It is also suggested that preference of the use of water should be in the order of food crop, vegetables and flowers. 

Table 1: History of irrigation development in India 

SN                               Period                                                            Irrigation development  

    

1.          Ancient Period 2500 - 1000 BC             People settled near the banks of river / tanks for the purpose of getting water for drinking and irrigation.

 

       2.          Chalcolithic 3000 - 1700 BC                Practice of irrigation to crops was evolved. 

       3.          Vedic period 1500 - 1600 BC               People employed craftsman to dig channels from                                                                                        rivers to their fields. Well irrigation through kuccha                                                                                    and puccha wells and were practiced 

       4.       Pandyas / Cholal chera‟s Period                                                                                                                 (1st Century 300 AD)                               Irrigated rice cultivation started during this period.                                                                                       Dams and Tanks were constructed for irrigation. 

      5.      Medieval period (1200 -1700 AD)          Irrigated agriculture was developed during Mogul                                                                                        period.

                                                                                Canals, Dams and Tanks were constructed (e.g.) 

                                                                               1. Construction of western yamuna canal 

                                                                               2. Constructions of Anantaraja sagar. 

Methods of conserving rain water 

In ancient days itself, people, especially Indians, know the methods of conservation of rain water. There are evidences that, even during Harappan period, there was very good system of water management as could be seen in the latest excavation at Dholavira in Kachch. Rain water harvesting structures in the low rainfall areas of Rajasthan, harvesting springs in hilly areas and mountainous region and percolation ponds and tanks in southern India. In Tamil Nadu, the ancient people stored rainwater in public, placed separately one for drinking purposes and another for bathing and other domestic purposses and called them as Ooranies. The various methods of rainwater harvesting are classified below under two category, Traditional and Modern methods. Traditional rainwater harvesting, which is still prevalent in rural areas, was done in surface storage bodies like lakes, ponds, irrigation tanks, temple tanks etc. In urban areas, due to shrinking of open spaces, rainwater will have to necessarily be harvested as ground water, Hence harvesting in such places will depend very much on the nature of the soil viz., clayey, sandy etc. The below listed are the various kinds of traditional rainwater harvesting methods. The Modern methods of rainwater harvesting are categorised under two, they are Artifical Recharging and Rain Water Harvesting. The former is classified into Absorption Pit Method, Absorption Well Method, Well cum Bore Method and Recharge trench cum injection well. The later is categorised into Individual Houses and Grouped Houses which are further classified into Percolation Pit Method, Bore Well with Settlement Tank, Open Well Method with filter bed Sump and percolation Pit with Bore Method. 

Bamboo method of rainwater harvesting 

In Meghalaya, an indegenious system of tapping of stream and springwater by using bamboo pipes to irrigate plantations is widely prevalent. It is so perfected that about 18-20 litres of water entering the bamboo pipe system per minute gets transported over several hundred metres and finally gets reduced to 20-80 drops per minute at the site of the plant. 

 Kunds of Thar Desert

 In the sandier tracts, the villagers of the Thar Desert had evolved an indegenious system of rainwater harvesting known as kunds or kundis. Kund. Usually constructed with local materials or cement, kunds were more prevalent in the western arid regions of Rajasthan, and in areas where the limited groundwater available is moderate to highly saline. Groundwater in Barmer, for instance, in nearly 76 per cent of the district‟s area, has total dissolved salts (TDS) ranging from 1,500-10,000 parts per million (ppm). Under such conditions, kunds provide convenient, clean and sweetwater for drinking.

 Traditional Rain water harvesting

 The traditional rainwater harvesting methods in North India is surface water harvesting methods are viz., Tanka, Nada, Nadi, Talai, Talab, Khadin Sar, Sagar and Samend.

 Tanka:

       It is constructed of on farm, country yard and fort. The shape is normally circular / square. Dimension is 2 m dia. 3 m deep capacity 10000 lit 

Talai:

      Similar to Tanka, still deeper (2-3cm depth). Special attention paid for selection of location such that there is adequate flow of rain water into Talai 

Nada: 

      In this method, low lying areas in between hillocks is excavated as pit and provided embankment to arrest rain water from these hillocks. 

 River 

       Compared to Nada. the Nadi is bigger in size. A village or group of Villages uses the run off water collected in the Nadi. 

 Pound

      It is relatively shallow and spread over to more area compared to Nadi. It is generally constructed in rangeland. The catchment area of Talab is 480 ha., can lost for many years.

 Khadin:

     Accumulation of run off water in between hillocks is known as Khadin. Khadin means cultivation crops. The khadin water is generally used for crop cultivation and animals.

 Sar, Sagar and Samand:

           It is used to harvest rainwater for irrigation purpose. Even today this structure provides excellent source of reservoir and also tourist spot

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