Karikala Chola

Karikala was a king of the early Chola dynasty of southern India, traditionally dated to around 150 AD, credited with constructing the Kallanai, also called the Grand Anicut, across the Kaveri River to divert water into the delta region for irrigation. Built across running water from unhewn stone roughly 329 meters long, 20 meters wide and 5.4 meters high, it is described as the oldest dam in India still in use and among the oldest water-diversion structures in the world. The work of quarrying, moving and placing that stone would have required a very large body of laborers, none of them individually named in the tradition that credits the project to the king who commissioned it.