AgricultureEast India Company rule
Company engineers begin remodelling the Grand Anicut
Captain Caldwell was appointed in 1804 to study the Kaveri and raised the ancient Grand Anicut to send more water to the delta.
The Kallanai, or Grand Anicut, across the Kaveri is an ancient Chola-era diversion structure. In 1804 the British appointed Captain Caldwell, a military engineer, to study the river and improve irrigation in the delta. He found that much of the flow passed into the Kollidam, and he raised the dam stones by about 69 centimetres to increase its capacity. Later Major Sim proposed undersluices to prevent silting, and Arthur Cotton's work on the Kaveri drew on the study of the old structure. These works marked the start of colonial-era remodelling of the Kaveri delta irrigation system.
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