SHAH NAHR: ITS HISTORY, TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIO-POLITICAL IMPLICATIONS

Author(s): Tripta Wahi

Source: Proceedings of the Indian History Congress , 2013, Vol. 74 (2013), pp. 285-296
Published by: Indian History Congress

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/44158827

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 SHAH NAHR: ITS HISTORY, TECHNOLOGY
AND SOCIO-POLITICAL IMPLICATIONS
Tripta Wahi
I

Drawn from the river Ravi, the Shah Nahr was a perennial canal which was
made during Shah Jahan's reign in the Subah of Lahore. It was initially made
by Ali Mardan Khan, but soon after its construction its course was modified
by Mulla Alaul Mulk due to inadequate water flow in it. It was revived in part
by Ranjit Singh early in his reign and it was functional in 1 849 A. D. when the
British assumed power in Punjab.
A study of the Shah Nahr throws light on several technological aspects of
canal-making in the seventeenth century. The first issue takes us to the
techniques of damming the river water and its channelization to the canal at
its mouth. The second issue arises out of the fact that the canal had to cross
two hill torrents flowing in the opposite direction. Hence, the technique of
conducting the canal water across the running surface water demands our
attention. Further, the fact of initial inadequate volume of water necessitating
its restructuring takes us to the issues pertaining to the nature of the canal
route and the related questions of gradient and speed.
The details of the making of the Shah Nahr give us insight into the
processes and structures of canal making and their maintenance under the
Mughals and the Sikh rulers. Also administrative structures related to its
maintenance and distribution of water emerge with some definitiveness. The
canal was operational at least till the 1750s, but sometime during the latter
part of the century, it fell in disuse. It was partly revived by Ranjit Singh early
in his reign. This raises the issue of relationship between political conditions,
nature of state structures and the making of canals, their remaining functional
and getting revived.
The perennial supply of water for irrigation produced a flourishing region
through which the Shah Nahr passed. Increase and stability in agricultural
production, flourishing cities, orchards etc. are all manifestations of the rich
dividends that the canal yielded in the region. Besides the superior land holding
sections and the state, religious establishments too were beneficiaries of these
benefits through their rent-free religious grants in the canal irrigated areas.

II

In 1639 Ali Mardan Khan, the Governor both of Kashmir and Punjab,
suggested to Shah Jahan the feasibility of making a perennial canal on the
River Ravi1 This canal was to be drawn from the point where the river
descended from the hills into the plains and it was to be taken to Lahore.2

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286 IHC: Proceedings , 74th Session , 20/5
Shah Jahan accepted Ali Mardan Khan's suggestion and gave him one lakh
rupees, which was the estimated cost by the experts.3 Ali Mardan Khan then
entrusted the task of making the canal to one of his trusted servants.

The canal was drawn from the river Ravi where it entered the plains in
the village Rajpur, near Nurpur, in the Subah of Lahore. From Rajpur to Lahore
it covered a distance of 48'/2 jarib kos.4 However, due to inadequacy of water
flow to Lahore further work on the canal became necessary and Shah Jahan
sanctioned an additional sum of rupees one lakh for that work. Ali Mardan
Khan's team spent half that amount in deepening the canal but without being
able to increase the volume of water in the canal.5 Shah Jahan then entrusted
this work to Mulla Alaul Mulk Tuni, who was 'an adept in the art of water-
lever.6 In the sixteenth regnal year (1643) the canal became functional with
abundant water supply reaching Lahore.7
The canal was flowing regularly at least till the third decade of the
eighteenth century. That it was still functional emerges from a document
addressed to *he darogah of the Shah Nahr directing him not to charge
naharana in Talibabad in pargana Batala.8 It was also operational in the
seventeen-fifties when Adina Beg established Adinanagar9 at a distance of a
few miles below the point where Shah Nahr crossed the Chakki. Sometime
after this the canal seems to have fallen into disuse. It was partly revived by
Ranjit Singh in 1 806 and it came to be known as Hasli.10 During Ranjit Singh's
reign in the Punjab a branch from the Hasli was taken to Amritsar.11 The canal
was largely functional when the British annexed the Punjab in 1849. The
British incorporated the upper portions of the canal in the Bari Doab Canal
while its branch to Lahore continued to flow.

The Shah Nahr seems to have had three branches besides the one going
to Lahore. However, Sujan Rai Bhandari, writing in 1696 makes these three
branches to be separate canals drawn from the river Ravi near Shahpur.12 The
destinations of these canals according to him were Lahore, Pargana Sthan,
Batala and Haibatpur Patti.13 It appears that Sujan Rai Bhandari was unaware
that canals to Sthan, Batala and Haibatpur Patti were branches of the Shah
Nahr and that they did not have separate headworks at Shahpur. The
information contained in the surveys conducted by the British engineers in
the eighteen-forties completely rules out the possibility of four separate canals
from Shahpur. There was only one headwork.
The British surveys found that after crossing the hill torrents Jena and
Chakki, there were traces of a branch from above Dinanagar along the highland
bordering the Beas.14 Another branch seems to have been open from Batala
following a natural nullah to Haibatpur Patti/ Kasur.'5 And, of course, one
branch went to Lahore, l he British surveys also found 'the traces and traditions'
of several other branch canals,16 During Ranjit Singh's rule a new branch was
taken from Majeetha to Amritsar for filling the tank of Harmandir. From

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 Medieval India 287

Majeetha the canal ran by Rajasansi and Poo

the canal according to the British survey wa
the calculation? based on the equivalence of a
have put the length of the canal at 86.2 mi
length of the canal as given by the contempo
would inevitably exclude the stretch added b
of the nineteenth century. The width of the c
its depth from I to 4 feet. Its velocity in some
4 feet per second.20

Ill

A close study of the Shah Nahr takes us to

pertaining to the making of canals in this r
The first issue concerns the damming of th
the canal at its mouth. The second deals with
water in the opposite direction on its way an
volume of water in the canal.

The British sources contain abundant inform

dams on the canals in the pre-colonial perio
gets corroborated and supplemented by the
Nahr we have fascinating details from a work
in the Punjab in the eighteen-forties. This is B
geography of the Punjab.22
The canfcl started from a place near Madh
Ravi which was situated at a distance of fiv
was the village from where it actually started.2
Ravi was getting diverted into a separate str
was here that the bund! dam of stones, pre
made for the canal.25 This supports the evide
the bunds at the heads of canals were not pe
that they needed constant repair. Although
large dimensions.26 In 1849 the Superintend
and assistant field engineer with the Punjab
these dams were 'maintained amid great eng
they were liable to serious damage from the
season.27

If these dams were maintained with such engineering difficulties the

question obviously arises as to why they were not substituted by more durable
permanent structures. The answer to this may be sought in the nature of the
Himalayan rivers themselves. The fact that these rivers carry with them heavy
sediment load due to poor rock formation of the Himalayas has an important

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288 IHC: Proceedings, 74th Session, 2013

bearing on their behaviour and consequently on how they could be dammed.

The heavy sediment load that the rivers carry gets deposited at the point of
abrupt break in the slope leading to the formation of alluvia1 fans or
piedmontese alluvial plain.28 In the process of cutting through their own
sediment they form several channels simulating deltaic regions. Therefore, at
the debouching point they regularly shift their channels for conveying their
water.29 With the rivers liable to changing their channels for conveying their
water, any permanent masonry structures at the head of any canal would be
unviable. Indeed such structures could be hazardous since with such structures
the rivers could totally break out of their existing channels and create havoc
over a large area.
Next comes the question of crossing on its way any flowing surface water
in the opposite direction. After running almost parallel to the river for about
half a kos from its headworks, the canal descended at a village called
Parmanand near the qasba of Sujanpur and encountered a big and deep stream
( rudkhanah ) running from east to west.30 After crossing the stream the canal
reached the town of Dinanagar. This undoubtedly was the hill torrent Chakki,
which, according to the British sources the Shah Nahr crossed from above the
town of Dinanagar.31

An aqueduct conducted the canal across the Chakki.32 This structure again
was made of wood and stones33 and hence it was not a masonry aqueduct.
While the water of the hill torrent flowed gradually through the stones and the
wood, the canal flowed swiftly over it through the guļ made for that purpose.
Given the fact that the Mughals were familiar with the existence and
technology of masonry aqueducts, the nature of the aqueduct over the Chakki
inevitably takes us to the question as to why it was not a more solid permanent
structure. Indeed, the construction of a porous aqueduct over the Chakki was
a well considered decision of the makers of the canal. That it was so follows
from the fact that Alaul Mulk when revisiting the canal while addressing the
issue of volume of water in it, retained the first five jarib kos of the original
canal which covered the hill torrents Jena and Chakki. He retained the structure
despite the fact that the porous nature of the aqueduct would have adversely
affected the volume of water in the canal. When addressing the question of
increasing the water supply in the Hasli, the British engineers too grappled
with the nature of the aqueduct and they too retained it. The issue takes us to
the nature of the hill torrents themselves that the Shah Nahr had to cross; it
appears that the torrent Chakki was the real problematic torrent that the makers
of the canal had to handle. There is virtually no information about or discussion
of any issues pertaining to the torrent Jena, but the Chakki figures as a very
difficult hill torrent that the makers of the Shah Nahr had to negotiate in its
initial course. In a very early British source the torrent is described as a
'troublesome little river'34 It has later been characterized as 'a most impetuous

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 Medieval India 289

torrent' which gets sudden freshets leading

engineers too had tough time dealing with th

Explanation for the non^masonry temporar

be sought ih the nature of the torrent itself
upredictable torrent. The explanation given
who was in-charge of the Hasli canal even be
in the Punjab, is very significant to give us
temporary nature of the aqueducts over the
report written in May 1849 on the Hasli tha
make the Bunds so that they may be carried
they were made stronger there would be a da
the canal and doing a great injury to the coun
only thought of strengthening the bunds inste
structures.38 Basic structural changes were lef
were experimented more with the upper Bar
Next comes the issue of volume of water in
Nahr was completed by Ali Mardan Khan's te
of water to Lahore was not adequate. Ali Mar
the volume of water in the canal by deepening
supply of water to Lahore.39 Alaul Mulk who w
changed the course of the canal. This is evident
canal was shorter by 1 1 !4 jarib kos in comp
and with the remodeled canal the water f
significant that Alaul Mulk retained the firs
remaining route from 4314 jarib kos to thir
restructured. The first 5 jarib kos that were
but what is important is that they also inclu
and the Chakki. It can be safely assumed that t
either did not substantially affect the volum
that there was no other way of negotiating th

Despite shortening of the course of the c

Napier, the Superintending Engineer of the c
that the canal had an 'ill-defined winding be
line of drainage by a tortuous course' was th
the subject a few decades later42. The natura
made sense in view of the fact that the regi
of gradient for an efficient rapid flow of wa
had found that the course of the river Ravi wa
on a boat often gave a direct progress of only
the river had been six-fold.43 That the alignm
at least in its upper course where the gradient
fact that the alignments of the Shah Nahr wer
engineers for their Bari Doab canal in that r

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290 IHC: Proceedings , 74th Session, 2013

The British engineers too had to grapple with the question of inadequate
volume of water in the Hasl i, which was already in existence and also for the
upper Bari Doab canal iti which they incorporated parts of the Shah Nahr,
while the part going to Lahore was retained with some modifications. There
were no easy solutions for increasing the volume of water in either of the two
canals. Shortly after the upper Bari Doab canal was opened in 1 859, it was
found that the volume of water was much less than what had been calculated
when designing the canal. It took them another decade of experience and
planning to suggest permanent headworks and much more time in diverting
the Chakki stream to the canal.46

The question of inadequate volume of water in the Shah Nahr must be

seen in the context of the volume of water in the river itself. Of all the Indus
rivers, the Ravi has the smallest quantum of water, it is even less than half the
quantum of water in the Beas river.47 Therefore, when the Shah Nahr was
made there were no easy solutions to the problem of inadequate volume of
water in the canal. The shifting nature of the Himalayan river beds at their
debouchure led to making of porous headworks, the impetuous nature of the
torrents across its course resulted in the construction of porous aqueducts,
absence of high gradient and following the natural drainage of the country
created an ill-defined winding bed for the canal and having the smallest
quantum of water of all the Indus rivers were all integral to the question of
volume of water in the canal. Ironically the self-same factors account for the
feasibility of making the canal and making it successfully. While the small
quantum of water made the river amendable to non-masonry damming for a
perennial canal at its debouchure, it simultaneously had implications for the
volume of water in the canal. Following the natural line of drainage created
an ill-defined winding bed, and yet the same natural line of drainage was its
safeguard against pitfalls and creation of swamps.48 Porous non-masonry
aqueducts were negative for the volume of water in the canal and yet they
were a safety valve against devastation through floods. Paradoxically, its
limitations were also its strength. Technologically the Shah Nahr was a success
story and it remained operational for more than two hundred years.
Any discussion about the technological aspects of the Shah Nahr would
remain incomplete without some comments on the use of wood in the
headworks and the aqueducts over the hill torrents, sub-terraneous channels
in the Shalimar Bagh and the working of the fountains therein. On the question
of the usage of wood at the headworks and in the aqueducts our sources do
not throw any light regarding the technical reasons for its being used in these
structures. Further our sources do not contain any information regarding the
kind of wood that was used for those structures. However, from some other
contexts we do know that brush-wood was used for making bunds for the
seasonal canals. It is probable that such wood provided the initial base for
holding the stones together at one place and the structures could get

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 Medieval índia 29 1

subsequently reinforeed by the accretion of silt

the bunds of smaller dimensions shrubs were
gravel 'bound together'.49
The Shah Nahr does not appear to have had
enroute Lahore and yet when making his pro
the feasibility of constructing this canal, Ali
emphasized the fact of his having in his emp
making subterraneous canals49. He appears
attention to this aspect keeping in view the nee
canal entered the garden through a subter
conducted underground wherever edifies wer
similar arrangements were made within the Ha
the tank in the nineteenth century. As for the f
the top terrace, that is, the Farah Bakhsh (Pl
ducts fed by the water of the Bara-Harta well,5
next two terraces, knoun as Falz Bakhsh , were
IV

The history of the making of the Shah Nahr

structures dealing with canal-making under th
the canal leads us to the centrality of the main
levels. The state had structures dealing with th
of the canal water. The canal produced a flouri
passed. The state and different sections of soci
making and continuous maintenance of the
perpetual maintenance of the canal involved bo
We only get a few glimpses of those who ma
with their labour for two centuries.

The way the canal was initiated suggests th

arrangements pet se in the Mughal system for
Mardan Khan who had worked out the feasibi
Ravi from the point it descends from the hil
Mardan Khan had the initial survey work done
Shah Jahan. Secondly, he had emphasized the f
an expert who was adept in making specific k
accepted the proposal and allocated money for
when Ali Mardan Khan's team was unable to h
volume of water in the canal, Shah Jahan entr
Mulk. It is significant that Alaul Mulk, like Al
the employ of another powerful noble, namely
Asaf Khan's death that he entered the royal se
rank of 500/50. By then he had already been
Nahr. He was an expert in hydraulics and unde

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292 ¡HC: Proceedings , 74th Session, 2013
had been employed by a powerful noble. Even v/hen he did get directly
employed by Shah Jahan and did get a promotion in his rank, presumably for
the successful completion of his assignment, his appointment was in the Daflar
Dar- i tan, a branch of the Divan's department which dealt with salaries56"®.
Subsequently at different points of time Alaul Mulk held various miscellaneous
positions such as Diwan-i-tan, Mir-i-Saman and the Qiledar of Delhi. 57 These
are all indications that there were no systematic structural arrangements for
harnessing technical/engineering skills for big projects such as making
perennial canals. It appears that powerful nobles holding important assignments
searched for and employed technical experts. Significantly both Asaf Khan
and Ali Mardan Khan as also the experts in their service were from Persia.
In sharp contrast to the apparent absence of organized structural
arrangements for engineering/technical work and expertise, were the
arrangements for the distribution of water. There was the system of appointing
mir-i abs 58 and there were darogahs overseeing the work of distribution. They
kept track of the water distribution and usage through their gumashtas, who,
in turn, kept a constant vigil at the ground level. This system emerges clearly
from a document dealing with nohrana in Talibabad in the pargana Batala.59
Notwithstanding the elaborate structural arrangements there was pilferage of
water through unauthorized cuts without payment of nahrana. Invariably this
was done in collusion with the agents of the state whose job it was to keep
vigil against such activities.60 The British attributed a considerable loss of
revenue from naharana to such pilferage. Ranjit Singh's deployment of an
army contingent on the Hasli61 seems to have been necessitated by such
circumstances.

The system for the maintenance of canals too was well organized. The
functioning of the canal depended on a constraint vigil at the headworks and
the aqueducts sinec these structures were liable to constant damage. Further,
when damaged, they needed to be repaired. Both the vigil and repair structures
worked under the state control,62 although labour for repair was provided by
the nearby villages63. Moreover, for the canals to remain effectively functional,
regular desilting was essential. The heavy sediment load that the Himalayan
rivers carried with them affected both the headworks and the canals and the
sub-channels which necessitated regular desilting. Hence a systematic desilting
was the norm for the canals in the Punjab64.
The centrality of the role of the state in keeping the canal functional is
evident from the fact that the canal ceased to flow by the end of the eighteenth
century. This synchronized with the period of political turmoil in the region.
With the establishment of the Lahore-centered kingdom under Ranjit Singh,
the canal was revived early in his reign. Again with political uncertainties in
the kingdom in the late 1 840s, the canal seems to have become partly silted as
is evident from the fact that clearing the canal was one of the first tasks

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 Medieval India 293

performed by the British administration afte

1849 A.D.

The British administration apparently maintained that the main puipose of

the Shah Nahr was to supply water to Lahore for the fountains and water
works in the Shalimar Bagh.65 However, their own surveys show that the canal
irrigated the entire region on its way to Lahore and it yielded remarkable
dividends. It is important to note that while recognizing that the canal would
irrigate the fields and gardens of Lahore, the contemporar> writers viewed it
as a measure for the welfare of the subjects and as means of populating towns.66
Besides providing water to two levels of the Shalimar Bagh,67 the canal ran
through the mansions of the nobles in the city.68 It provided stable irrigation
to the entire region through which it passed. For instance, for Sujanpur the
early British administrators had noted that no field within the reach of the
canal remained unirrigated.60 Notwithstanding the fact that Shalimar Bagh
was the first priority and that under Ranjit Singh a part of the canal water was
diverted to Amritsar, the early British surveys noted that
'such is the value of irrigation and so great the returns from a naturally
fertile soil that the country bordering on the canal affords a most delightful
contrast to the bai e and parched lands in the centre of the Doab. Surrounded
by the most luxuriant cultivation, the canal villages and their inhabitants
bear every appearance of comfort and case/7"

It is quite remarkable that the British found it difficult to repair or enlarge the
canal as cultivation extended right upto the brink of the canal.71
The British also underlined the significance of the canal for the people
from another angle. It was noted that cultivation in the Shah Nahr areas
provided such ample occupation for the population that there was scarcely
any discharged soldier of the Sikh army from this area.72

Religious establishments too were big beneficiaries of irrigation from

the Shah Nahr. The grant to the Vaishnavas of Pindori has been noted above.
The British took note of such religious grants of remission in the canal areas
and viewed them as 'waste of canal water' but it was realised that nonetheless
those grants 'must be carefully respected'. They found that the land grants
made to such establishments in the canal villages were distinguished by their
'pretty groves of trees and gardens'.73 Thus the canal was also an instrument
of establishing close relationship between various religious orders and the
state.

While some enjoyed the fruits of the canal water, sections of society
rendered extra labour to create and more so to maintain the headworks and
the bunds so that the canal could remain operational. The villages providing
labour were exempt from paying naharana .74 Thus, for instance, the users of

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294 IHC : Proceedings, 74th Session , 2013

the canal water in Sujanpur had to pay nothing for that water since it provided
labour for repairing the headworks for the maintenance of the head and of the
bund of the canal.75 This arrangement although favourable for canal irrigation
was deemed by the colonial state to be an Unfair' one 'for while the lowest
classes alone were employed upon this bund all classes derive benefit from
their labour to the great injury of the government revenue'.76 But the Mughals
and then the Sikh rulers were happy to let higher sections of society enjoy the
benefits accruing from the labour of the 'lowest classes' to keep the canal
functional.

History of the Shah Nahr is thus the history of the structures and
technology of canal making and of their strength and wçakensses. It is also a
history of flourishing agriculture, towns and religious establishments and of
interlinkages between religious establishments and the state thriving on canal
irrigation. But it is equally a history of surplus generation through appropriation
of the labour rendered by the lowest castes and classes in making the canal
and then in maintaining it in order to keep it operational. And they did keep it
operational generation after generation for nearly two hundred years.

NOTES AND REFERENCES

1 Abdul I lamid Labori, Badshahnamah . original text and translation in Muhammad Baqir
Luh ore Past and Present (Being an Account of lxi h ore compiled from the original
sources ), Punjab University, Lahore 1952, pp. 382-83, Shah Nawaz Khan, Maathir-ul-
Utnara , ir. A. Beveridge, revised by Baini Prashad, Patna 1979, I, pp. 187-88.
2. Labor i , ibid., p 383.
3. Loc. cit.

4. Loc. cit.

5. Muhammad Salili Kamboh. Amal-i Salih , original text along with transla
Muhammad Baqir, op. cit . pp. 384-85; see also Shah Nawaz Khan, op. cit.., p.
6. Loc. cit.

7. Kamboh, op. cit.._ , pp.384-85.

8. For the document see, B. N. Goswamy and J. S. Grewal (trs. an eds.), The Mughals an
Sikh Rulers and the Vaishanavas of P indori, Simla 1975, pp. 93-4.
9. Bute Shah. Punjab di Geographyayi Tawarukh, Geographical. Descript ion of the Punjab
in Panjabi , Originally published in 1850, reprint Chandigarh 2007, pp. 70-71.
10. Ahmad Shah Batalavi, Tarikh-i Panjabi tr. Gurbaksh Singh, Patiala 1971, p. 74.
1 1 . Bute Shah, op. cit., p. 37, See also Major R. Napier's 'Renort on the Shah Nahr or Hasl
Foreign/Secret, 28th April 1848, nos. 57-66, p. 39, NA1, New Delhi.
12. Khulasat-ut-Tawarikh , Punjabi translation, Punjabi University, Patiala 2000, p. 85.
13. Loc. cit.

14. Major R. Napier's 'Report', op. cit ., pp. 39-40, NAI, New Delhi
15. Loc. cit.

16. Loc. cit.

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 Medieval India 295
17. Loc. cit .

1 8. B. R. Grover, 'Extension and Administration of the Irrigation System under Shah Jahan,'
Collected Works of Professor B.R. Grover , eds. Amrita Grover et al.. New Delhi 2005. 1,
p. 288.
19. Irfan Habib, The Agrarian System of Mughal India . 1556-1707 . 2nd revised edition.
OUP, New Delhi 1999, p. 36.
20. Napier's 'Report', op. cit , p. 40.
21. Loc. cit.

22. The work is cited above in footnote 9.

23. Bute Shah, op. cit., pp. 35-36.

24. Lahori, op.cit., pp. 382-83.
25. Bute Shah, op.cit ., p. 36.
26. Lt. R. Baird Smith, Agricultural Resources of the Punjab : being a memorandum on the
application of the Waste Waters of the Punjab for Purposes of Irrigation, London 1 849.
p. 7.
27. Loc. cit.

28. K. L. Rao, India's Water Wealth : Its Assessment. Uses and Projections, New Delhi 1975,
p. 24; "Evolution of Himalaya k Mountains and Rivers of India ' (21" International
Geographic Congress Inde, 1968 India), ed. B.C. Law, Calcutta 1968, p. 75
29. Rao, ibid, p. 24.
30. Bute Shah, op. cit., p. 36.
31. Napier's Report, op.cit., p. 39.
32. Bute Shah, op.cit., pp. 36, 71 .
33. Ibid., p. 36.
34. Foreign/Political Department, 4th- 1 1th August 1849, no. 87, NA1, New Delhi
35. District and States Gazetteers of Undivided Punjabi Delhi 1985, 1, Gurdaspur District,
Part A, p. 4.

36. Loc. cit. Having controlled the Chakki through diversion was described as a heroic
measure.'

37. Foreign Political Department, 4th- 1 1th August 1849, no. 88, NAI, New Delhi
38. Loc. cit.

39. Muhammad Salih Kamboh, op. cit., pp.384-85.

40. Loc. cit.

41 . Foreign-Political, 4th- 1 1th August 1849 Prog. No. 88, NAI, New Delhi.
42. R. B. Buckley, Irrigation Works of India and their Financial Results, 1880, p. 144.
43. Foreign-Miscellaneous, 1831, No. 269, p. 169, no. 5, NAI, New Delhi.
44. Buckley, op. cit., p. 144. Gurdaspur District Gazetteer, op. cit., p. 16.
45. Gurdaspur District Gazetteer, ibid., p. 16.
46. Buckley, op. cit., pp. 144-46.
47. N. D. Gulati, 'The Indus and its Tributaries, Mountains and Rivers, op.cit., pp 351-52
48. Such pitfalls were noted when the British tried to make the canals in the most economic
manner bypassing natural drainage 4 in the infancy of our knowledge.' This led to swamps
and sickness. R. Baird Smith, op. cit.., p. 13.

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 296 I HC: Proceedings, 74 th Session , 2013
49. J n. Cunningham, Report on the Inrrigation, oťtlie Gugur and the Sursootee', selections
from the public correspondence of the Administration for Affairs of Punjab, Vol.11. ( 1 854-
55) No XXIV, para 19, P.398
50. Labori, op ci/., pp.387, 388-92
51 Loc. cit.

52. Water in the Bara-flarta well was drawn by twelve Persian wheels and this was situated
outside the western wall of the first tcrrace, Muhammad Baqir, op.cit., pp. 386,390-91.
53. Lahori. Badshahnamah, op.cit., p.39|.
54. Lahori op. cit.., pp. 382-83. Kamboh, op. cit ... pp. 383-84; Shah Nawaz Khan, op. cit
pp. I92r93.
55. Shah Nawaz Khan, op. cit., pp. 550-51
56. Loc.cil and Kamboh, op. cit., pp. 384-85;
56-a. Ibn. Hasan. The central structure of the Mughal Empire. Delhi 1970 (repring) pp. 203,
209.

57. Shah Nawa? Khan, ibid., p. 551; Athar Ali. The Apparatus of Empire , Oxford 1985, nos
S. 2926, S. 3403. S. 3422, S. 3558, S 3589, S 3687, S39I7, S 44?9 etc. and S 5780 and
many more.

58. For details see. Tripla Wahi, 'Canals, State and Society in the Pre-British Punjab', PIHC ,
Bombay session. 2012, p. 277.
59. Goswamy and Grcwal, op.cit., pp. 93-94.
60. Foreign-Secret, 28th April 1848, nos. 57-66. no 60. p. 43, N'AI, New Delhi
61 J . S . Grcwal and Indu Banga C ivil and h lilitary Affairs of Maharaja Ranjit Singh , Amritsar
1987, document no. 109.

62 See, Tripla Wahi. op.cit., p. 276-77.

63. Foreign-Secret. 28th April 1848. nos 57-66, no. 60, p. 31, NAI, New Delhi
64. T.wahi. op.cit., p.276-77.
65. See, for instance, The General Report on the Administration of the Punjab Proper, for
the years 1819-50, 1 850-$ I. It is listed as Selections from the Records of the Government
oj India (Foreign Department). No. II, Calcutta 1 853. The same view was held by several
writers of irrigation works. Sec, for instance, Buckley, op.cit., p. 144.

66. Lahori, op. cit., pp. 382-83 and Kamboh, op. cit., pp. 383-85.
67. Baqir, op. cit., pp. 385-96.
68. Bute Shah, op.cit., p. 37.
69. Foreign-Secret, 28th April 1848, 57-66, p. 31, NAI, New Delhi

70. Foreign-Political Department, 4th- 1 Ith August 1849, no. 90, NAI, New Delhi
7 1 . Foreign-Political, 3 1 st December 1 847, nos 235 1 -52, 'Regarding the Revenues, obtained
at present by Irrigation, NAI, New Delhi

72. Foreign-Political Department., 4th- 1 1th August 1849, no. 90, NAI, New Delhi
73. Loc. cit.

74. Forcigh-Secret, 28lh April 1848, nos. 57-66 no. 60, p.31, NAI, New Delhi
75. Loc. ci t.,
76. Loc. cit..

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