Thanjavur Cauvery Delta Samba Rice Paddy Tradition

Thanjavur district — the rice granary of Tamil Nadu in the Cauvery river delta — grows samba rice (Samba pachai variety) over a 150-day kharif season in the Grand Anicut (Kallanai) irrigation system that Raja Raja Chola built in the 2nd century CE and that has continuously irrigated the delta for 2,000 years, making it the world's oldest water diversion structure still in use. The Thanjavur paddy system's traditional cultivars including Samba, Thaladi, and Kuruvai include over 200 heritage varieties documented by the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation as part of India's agricultural biodiversity heritage. The district also produces Thanjavur Tanjore doll (thanjavur bommai) — the papier-mâché weighted toy with a nodding head dressed as a South Indian woman — one of Tamil Nadu's iconic folk art forms with GI status.