HISTORY
OF
THE PERIYÁR PROJECT.
CHAPTER I.
The Madura district-Famine-The Periyár investigations for extending irrigation.
Proposals put forward ; estimates and designs finally sanctioned.
THE Madura district of the Madras Presidency is bounded on the north by the Trichinopoly district, on the south by the Tinnevelly district, on the east by the Bay of Bengal, and on the west by the western ghauts. There is but one drainage system of importance in the district, the river Vaigai. The present condition of the country through which it runs cannot be better described than in the language used by Major Ryves, R.E., in a report, dated 7th August 1867.
“The principal division of the Madura district, consisting of the three taluks-Mélúr, Madura and Tirumangalam-is a strip of country running north and south ; its eastern boundary marching with the adjoining zamindary estates of Sivaganga and Ramnad; and on the west separated from the Dindigul division of the district by the mountains and jungle, which extend almost continuously from Nattom on the north to Srívilliputtúr on the south, where they run into the general range of the western ghauts, which here separate British territory from the Travancore country.
"Its area, excluding uninhabited mountain and jungle, is about 1,200 square miles, with a population of very nearly half a million.
"The Vaigai river, passing through the only opening in the hills which form the western boundary, flows across the strip; the length of its course between the limits above defined being about 33 miles. In this length several river channels are taken off, most of them to fill tanks during the short and uncertain periods of Vaigai freshes. The principal channels are the Vadakarai, the Tenkarai, the Nellayoor, and the Madacolum.
"The two first have the advantage of anicuts across the river at their heads; the other two as well as all the other channels are supplied by means of temporary spurs (made of grass and sand-corumboos) run out into the river.
