Post # 143
Cotton Dora
Three districts of Andhra Pradesh - East Godavari, West Godavari and Krishna - are littered with more than 3000 statues of a former East India Company official. These statues were built not by the British administration, but by locals of the districts.
On 15th May of every year, thousands of people, mostly farmers, but a few engineers, administrators, academics and politicians too assemble round these statues, pour milk on them, do puja with proper mantras and abhishekam, to celebrate the birth anniversary of this Englishman.
In 2009, an obscure body called the Andhra Pradesh Hindi Academy commissioned an agency to locate the tomb (final resting place) of this Englishman. The agency found the tomb in a village called Dorking, about 50 kms from London. So representatives of this body flew to Dorkings and put flowers on the tombstone to convey their respects to the man. The Telugu Association of London took up renovation of the tomb as their onus.
Now, who is this guy? And what did an Englishman, an East Indian Company official at that, do to deserve such feelings of respect and reverence amongst Indians?
Therein lies a tale.
This Englishman was Sir Arthur Cotton. He was a soldier, an engineer and an administrator with the British East India Company during the 19th century. And in 'an era of darkness' where the British fleeced Indian resources out of India and did very little for the population in return, this general worked on a dozen or so irrigation projects in South India and converted two areas into rice bowls of their respective provinces. Thanjavur became the rice bowl of present day Tamil Nadu, whereas districts surrounding Godavari and Krishna basins became the rice bowls of present day Andhra Pradesh. For the locals of these lands, he was Cotton Dora. Dora is an affectionate-cum-respectful term, meaning Master. His tombstone reads - Irrigation Cotton.
Arthur Cotton, aged 18 years, arrived in India in 1821, with the designation of Second Lieutenant and was attached to the office of the Chief Engineer of Madras presidency. It is said that he was as much an imperialist as his peers, but in 1826, he experienced a religious awakening. Thereafter, he decided that his mission was to work “for the glory of God…and the benefit of men". And he spent close to 50 years with the one idea that he believed could make a difference in India - Irrigation.
His talents for constructing irrigation structures were soon recognized by his superiors and he was entrusted with the task of constructing a dam across Cauvery river. Upon successful completion, he was promoted to the rank of Captain in 1828 and was entrusted with the work of investigation of all irrigation schemes in the presidency. His persistent efforts led to Thanjavur belt becoming the Rice bowl of Tamil Nadu.
His masterpiece is, of course, the construction of Dowleshwaram barrage across the river Godavari in Andhra Pradesh. Dowleshwaram is a village within the vicinity of Rajamundry city, where Godavari is around 4km wide. When the rains in the Western Ghats would be heavy, the Godavari would be in spate. During summer, the Godavari would dry and nearby areas would be gripped by drought.
Arthur Cotton fought tooth and nail with his administration for a barrage over the river. Getting funds and resources for developmental work was not easy. When the Godavari project was sanctioned in 1847, Arthur Cotton asked for six engineers, eight juniors and 2,000 masons. Instead, he was allotted one young hand, two surveyors, and a few odd men. Yet he persevered. He studied and copied the method of construction used by the Cholas. He succeeded in completing the magnificent project on the Godavari river at Rajamundry in 1852.
As a tribute to him, a new barrage was constructed across the Godavari river, in 1982, upstream of the old one, and was named after him. It was dedicated to the nation by the then Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi. He is revered in the Godavari districts for making it the rice bowl of Andhra Pradesh.
After completing the Godavari barrage, Arthur Cotton shifted his attention to the construction of the aqueduct on Krishna River. The project was sanctioned in 1851 and completed by 1855.
But in 1952, a massive flood breached it. So in 1954, then Chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, Tanguturi Prakasam, laid the foundation for a new barrage. The project was completed in 1957, and was inaugurated by the then Chief Minister, Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy, who named it Prakasam Barrage.
In 1858, Arthur Cotton came up with an even more ambitious proposal - connecting all major rivers of India, and interlinking of canals and rivers - the precursor to today's National Water Grid project. Imagine that! About 160 years back! Below is the gist of his proposal. Of course, he didn't get the necessary funds.
Though Arthur Cotton rose through the ranks steadily, he was hated by his superiors for his service to the Indians. He was thwarted by administrative jealousy and was called a “wild enthusiast" with “water in his head". At one point, impeachment proceedings were initiated by his superiors for his dismissal. He was also summoned to the appear before a House of Commons Committee to justify his proposal to build a barrage across the Godavari. He supposedly said, "My Lord, one day's flow in the Godavari river during high floods is equal to one whole year's flow in the Thames of London".
His biggest bone of contention was with the massive railway lobby amidst the administration. He kept on making the point that railways bled India and Indians, while irrigation gave life to Indians. Because the sole reason why the British invested in Indian railways was the efficient transfer of tradable goods to shipping ports so that wealth can be siphoned off to their British headquarters. He rued the disproportionate investments made in railways vis-a-vis irrigation.
Arthur Cotton retired from service in 1860 and left India. He was knighted in 1861.
This post is a tribute to Sir Arthur Thomas Cotton, Cotton Dora to the folks in Andhra Pradesh, Cotton Dorai, to the locals in Tamil Nadu, a rare Englishman, who worked to improve the lot of the people he conquered.
