{"id":131242,"date":"2026-10-30T13:51:28","date_gmt":"2026-10-30T08:21:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=131242"},"modified":"2026-10-30T13:59:22","modified_gmt":"2026-10-30T08:29:22","slug":"surangams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/surangams\/","title":{"rendered":"Surangams"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><b>Surangams Latest News<\/b><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A comprehensive project to rejuvenate the district\u2019s traditional underground water tunnels, known as \u201cSurangams\u201d, is set to be implemented in eight grama panchayats in Kasaragod Districts of Kerala.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>About Surangams<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Surangams, also known as <\/span><b>tunnel wells,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> are a remarkable indigenous <\/span><b>water management system<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> unique to the <\/span><b>Kasaragod District of Kerala<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and parts of <\/span><b>Dakshina Kannada in Karnataka.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They are also known by different names, such as <\/span><b>Surangas, Thurangams<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, or <\/span><b>Thorappu<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While its origins remain unclear, historians <\/span><b>draw parallels to the Qanat system of Persia, introduced to India via<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> the ancient <\/span><b><a href=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/trade-routes-in-ancient-india\/\" target=\"_blank\">Silk Route<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Features<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These are basically <\/span><b>horizontal tunnels dug through<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> a <\/span><b>laterite hillock<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> through which <\/span><b>water seeps out and into the tunnel<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Water <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">is then <\/span><b>collected <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">at the end of the tunnel<\/span><b> in a storage pit.\u00a0\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Built without pumps<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> or electric motors, surangams <\/span><b>rely entirely on natural water percolation.\u00a0\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They <\/span><b>channel underground water to the surface using gravity,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> ensuring a steady and sustainable supply for households and agriculture.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Generally a surangam was about 0.45\u20130.70 m wide and about 1.8-2.0 m in height. The <\/span><b>length of the tunnel<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> varied between<\/span><b> 3 m to 300 m.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For long tunnels, air shafts were provided to ensure atmospheric pressure.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Surangams are <\/span><b>dug in places<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> where the hydrogeological profile consists of <\/span><b>lateritic and weathered rocks.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Workmen <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">who traditionally undertook the digging of surangas were people who were <\/span><b>familiar with the slopes, soil structure, and catchment areas <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and used their knowledge of local flora and fauna to identify water sources.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With over <\/span><b>5,000 surangas in Kasaragod District<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> alone, this system has played a crucial role in sustaining the local communities. <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>News: <\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/news\/national\/kerala\/eight-panchayats-in-keralams-kasaragod-to-revive-traditional-surangam\/article71641224.ece\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><b>TH<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Surangams are a remarkable indigenous water management system unique to the Kasaragod District of Kerala and parts of Dakshina Kannada in Karnataka. Read more about Surangams, Meaning, Features, Latest News.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":131194,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[11230],"class_list":["post-131242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-upsc-prelims-current-affairs","tag-surangams","no-featured-image-padding"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131242","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131242"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131242\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":131261,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131242\/revisions\/131261"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/131194"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}