Pothundi Dam
irrigation dam near Pothundi village in the Palakkad district of Kerala state, India
Pothundi Dam is an irrigation dam near Pothundi village in the Palakkad district of Kerala state, India. Constructed in the 19th century, it is considered one of the oldest dams in India. It provides irrigation to an area of 5,470 hectares (13,500 acres) in the Palakkad district and drinking water supply to the Nemmara, Ayalur, Melarcode Panchayat. An unusual feature of the earth dam is the core wall, which is built with a mixture of jaggery and quick lime.
A popular festival held on the shores of the reservoir is known as the Nemmara Vallengi Vela Festival.
Topography
The dam is built in the Pothundy village across the Meenichiladipuzha and Padipuzha rivers, which are tributaries of the Aylampuzha river, about 400 metres (1,300 ft) upstream of the confluence, in the backdrop of the Nelliampathi hills. It drains a catchment area of 31 square kilometres (12 sq mi) at Full Reservoir Level, which is thickly forested with teak wood trees. The dam is in the Chittur taluk, about 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) from Nemmara and 42 kilometres (26 mi) from Palakkad and 17 kilometres (11 mi) from Nelliampathi.
History
The dam, built in the 19th century for irrigation, was developed as a medium irrigation project completed in 1971 at a cost of Rs.23.425 million. The dam also provides water supply, and the reservoir has been developed as an important inland fisheries project.
“Pothundi Dam” enters the record as irrigation dam near Pothundi village in the Palakkad district of Kerala state, India. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Pothundi, irrigation and village can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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“Pothundi Dam” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Pothundi, irrigation and village provides the most credible route into that argument.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 12, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3512097. Authority coordinates are 10.545, 76.625. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1971.
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This entry incorporates text from “Pothundi Dam” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.