Anagpur Dam | |
---|---|
Anangpur Dam |
|
Official name | Anangpur Dam |
Location | Delhi and Haryana |
Construction began | 8th century |
Dam and spillways | |
Height | 7 m (23 ft) |
Length | 50 m (164 ft) |
Impounds | local nallah (stream) |
Reservoir | |
Creates | Water supply & Irrigation |
The Anangpur Dam, located close to the Anagpur village (also called Arangpur) in Gurgaon district of Haryana, India, is 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) away from the more famous Surajkund. This unique Indian hydraulic engineering structure was built during the reign of King Anangpal of the Tomar dynasty in 8th century. It is approachable by road from Delhi from the Delhi - Mathura road. The ruins of the fortifications found in Anangpur village establishes by an inference that it was built by Anangpal as part of the Lal Kot that was developed as the first city of Delhi in the 8th century.[1][2][3]
Contents |
A local nala (stream) originating in the Aravalli hills was intercepted by building a dam at a chasm to store rain water. It is basically a water harvesting structure meant to store rain water during the monsoon season for beneficial uses of irrigation.[1][2]
Anagpal I, the Tomar Gurjar, moved his fiefdom to the south of the Aravalli hills, south of the present day Delhi at the far end of the 10th century. They inhabited the areas, which were isolated with difficult access, as they wanted to be safe from the warring Rajput clans. Within the boundaries of the present day Haryana, on the border with Delhi, they built the Surjakund reservoir near Surjakund village and another dam in its close vicinity near the Arangpur village as the Anangpur dam. It is said that Anangpal who built Surjakund and Arangpal (also known as the builder of Lal Kot, called the first city of Delhi) who built Arangpur dam belonged to the same dynasty but belonged in different periods.[4]
The ancient and solid gravity dam structure, a pre-Islamic structure that fords a local nala (stream) is 7 metres (23 ft) in height and 50 metres (160 ft) in length between the two banks. It has been built with quartzite stones(locally available), duly chiselled and dressed, as a regular dam section with downstream base width increasing in steps with depth up to the foundation. It has entry manholes from the top of the dam, which lead into the body of the dam for inspection and control of flow through sluices for downstream uses. The intake entry into the sluice is on the upstream side. The downstream outlet end leads to the flat terrain below the dam at the ground level. The reservoir created by the dam is mostly silted over the centuries but it is said to be in use.[2][5]
Anagpur which is 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) from the dam is 19 kilometres (12 mi) from Delhi city and is approachable from Qutub Minar and Surajkund. But the access to the dam is through a path from the Anagpur village, which goes through flat pastureland and then over a rocky forested hill.[1][2]