Mullaiperiyaru Dam is a gravity dam made with lime stone and surkhi and the cunstruction technologies of 19th century on the Periyar River

Periyar River

Periyar is the longest river in the state of Kerala, India, with a length of 244 km. The Periyar is known as the lifeline of Kerala; it is one of the few perennial rivers in the region and provides drinking water for several major towns...

. It is located 881 m (2,890 ft) above mean sea level on the Cardamom Hills

Cardamom Hills

Not to be confused with Cardamom Mountains in Cambodia. For other uses, see Cardamom The Cardamom Hills are part of the southern Western Ghats located in southeast Kerala and southwest Tamil Nadu in South India. Their name comes from the cardamom spice grown in much of the hill's cool elevation,...

 of Western Ghats in Thekkadi, Idukki District of Kerala

Kerala

or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....

, India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

. It was constructed in 1895 by the British Government, to divert water eastwards to Madras Presidency area (the present-day Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Pondicherry, and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh...

). It has a height of 53.6 m (176 ft) from the foundation and length of 365.7 m (1,200 ft).