The Grand Anicut is also known as "KALLANAI" is one of the oldest irrigation dams in the world built in the second century AD. It is the worlds ancient first dam built in running river Kaveri in Trichirapalli District in the state of Tamil Nadu, South India. This dam was originally constructed by the Great Chola King 'Karikala Cholan' and is considered to be one of the oldest water diversion structure in the world which is still in use.  

Why it is Called Grand Anicut?

        In general, a function of a dam is to store water as a reserve and use it for irrigation, domestic purpose and power production, etc. On the other hand, Anicut was designed to retain water and divert the Surplus to irrigate lands. This Anicut is a gravity dam that is made of rocks, landfills and concrete.

Purpose of Kallanai:

        The purpose of this structure was to divert the flow from the Kaveri river across the fertile delta region in order to irrigate lands via canals in the northern delta branch. The Grand Anicut splits the river Kaveri into 4 streams known as Kollidam (Coleroon) Aaru, Kaveri Aaru, Vennaaru, Putu Aaru and finally, it empties into the Bay of Bengal at Poompuhar.

Construction:

        The dam was constructed in a beautiful way such that you can see the entire dam from any point. It was constructed using unhewn stones (uncut stones) and is 1080 feet long and 66 feet wide across the mainstream of Kaveri. The area is irrigated by the ancient irrigation network covering an area of about 69,000 acres. The dam though very old has a strong foundation and a solid structure and has also been an inspiration for many recent modern-day dams due to its amazing engineering. Due to its impressive architecture, the dam attracts a lot of tourists every year.

Re-modelation of Anicut:

        In the 19th century, in 1804 AD during British Administration Captain Caldwell, a military engineer was appointed to promote irrigation in the delta region. After some study, he found that only a small amount of water was left for irrigation as the maximum water went to Kollidam (Coleroon). Caldwell proposed a solution by raising the dam. Hence, the dam stones were raised to a height of 0.69m which increased the capacity of the dam.

        In the latter 19th century, Sir Arthur Cotton built the Lower Anicut, a replica of Kallanai that helped to store much more water and made it useful for irrigation. This Lower Anicut was built across Coleroon (Kollidam) one of the major tributaries of the Kaveri. 


How to reach:    

  • The nearest airport is Tiruchirapalli Airport which is about 13 Kms from Kallanai.
  • The nearest railway station is Lalgudi Railway Station Junction which is 4 km away from Kallanai.
  • The nearest Bus stand is Tiruchirapalli Central Bus stand which is 23 km away from Kallanai.
       I hope this blog will be interesting and helpful to know about the ancient history of the Grand Anicut which is also called Kallanai Dam. I will try to write soon about another interesting historical place.