A museum builds a working model of an irrigation device that a sixteenth-century emperor saw in parts of north India. Two circles of rope hold strips of wood with pots fastened on them, and the ropes hang over a wheel set above a well. A set of toothed wheels links this wheel to a bullock, and the pots keep rising full and coming down empty. Visitors are then asked questions about the emperor's own account of the device.
In the emperor's account, which wheel does the bullock itself turn?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → The wheel on an upright axle
Option (1) The second wheel fixed at one end of the wheel-axle — Incorrect. The second wheel sits at one end of the wheel-axle. The teeth of the upright wheel move it.
Option (2) The wheel that carries the pitchers — Incorrect. The wheel with the pitchers turns last, through the toothed wheels. The bullock does not turn it directly.
Option (3) The wheel on an upright axle — Correct. Babur wrote that the last wheel, on an upright axle, is the one the bullock turns. Its teeth catch in the second wheel.
Option (4) The roller set between the forks of wood — Incorrect. The roller between wooden forks belongs to the bucket method used in Agra, Chandwar and Bayana. There the rope runs over the roller to the bullock.
NCERT (2026-27): “1.3 Irrigation and technology … |