The Bands and Sluices of the Sultanate Period in Delhi. Historical Studies on the Sites & Monuments of the Delhi Sultanate Period (4)

The construction works for the utilization of water are one of the most interesting subjects in the historical study of the monuments of the Delhi Sultanete period.There still remain in Delhi area a number of wells and baolis, bands and sluices, and big or small reservious which belong to the pre Mughal times. The Mission fot Indian History and Archaeology, University of Tokyo, understook a series of intensive reserches on some of these monuments during the winters of 1959-60 and 1961-62. The results of the incestigations are to be published in an official report. In the present article, the author discusses various historical problems concerning the remains of the bands and sluices in and around Delhi. The monuments described and discussed in this article are as follows: Bands Band I at Tughluqabad (Fig. 1) Band II at Tughluqabad (Fig. 2) Band III at Tughluqabad (Plate I-A; Fig. 4) south Wall of Jahanpanah (Fig. 6) Band at Mahipalpur (Plate II-A; Fig. 8) Band on the Station Road (Fig. 9) Band at the Buli Bhatiyari ka Mahal (Fig.10) Band in the campus of the University of Delhi (Fig.11) Band in the garden of the Nehru House (Add. Fig. A) Band to the South of Wazirabad (Fig. 12) Band at Malcha (Fig. 13) Sluices Sluice I (Fig. 1) Sluice II (Fig. 2) Sluice III (Plate I-B; Fig. 15,16,17) Satpulah I (Fig. 18.20) Sluices I;II (Fig. 22) Sluice (Fig. 9, 23) Sluice (Fig. 24) Sluice (Plate II-B; Fig. 25,26) In the first half of the article the author gives a brief description of each of these monuments and analyzes its geographical condition, while in the second harf he studies the few written materials available on the construction of the bands as well as the agrarian policies of the Tughluq rulers, and reveals the background of the construction of these dams and sluices and its histrical significance. The main points of discussion are: (1) multipurpose utilization of water for the fortified city of Tughluqabad; (2) the south wall of the city of Jahanpanah which also served as an embankment, and the aims of its construction; (3) historical significance of the construction works of the early Tughluq rulers in the history of the utilization of water in the Sultanate period; (4) chronological problems of the construntion of the south wall of Jahanpanah and the Satpulah sluice.(The Band-i Siri, or Band-i Ab-i siri mentioned in the Tarikh-Firuz Shahi of Ziya al-Din Barani is also discussed in connection with these chronological problems); (5) To identify some of the existing bands with those mentioned in \u27Afif\u27s Tarikh-i Firuz Shahi; (6) various objectives of the construction of bands and sluices in the reign of Firuz Shaha Tughluq. Some additional remarks were made by prof. T. Yamamotoon his observation during his short stay in Delhi in December, 1964, on the dam near Anangpur (Add. Fig. B and C), and on the "Shikarghat", a house on the Band in the garden of the Nehru House