Dowleswaram

Dowleswaram sits on the Godavari’s left bank, at the southern edge of Rajamahendravaram. Here the British engineer Arthur Cotton built a brick-and-masonry anicut across the river’s four arms, finishing it in 1852. Its canals gave the delta dependable water for rice, and farmers still honour him on his birth anniversary, 15 May. When the old weir weakened, a barrage with a road along its top replaced it. Built between 1970 and 1982, it is named after Cotton. In 2022 the International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage listed it as a World Heritage Irrigation Structure.

Beside the barrage, the Sir Arthur Cotton Museum fills the former office of the Godavari Head Works Executive Engineer. Chief Minister N.T. Rama Rao opened it on 25 February 1988. Inside is a life-size model of the old anicut, with its falling shutters and rail track, and the machines used to build it. Another model shows the new barrage’s four arms and sluices. Look out, too, for the statue of Cotton on horseback.