Under the Pallavas and especially the Cholas, South India developed an extensive network of artificial tanks (eri) and reservoirs that captured monsoon runoff for irrigation and town water supply. Cascading tanks, sluices and channels were often endowed and managed through temple and village assemblies, tying water control to religious and civic institutions. The system sustained dense agrarian settlement and the rise of temple-centred towns.
It is a long-lived indigenous water-engineering tradition that structured settlement and urban growth across the South Indian plains.
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