Dagargala (also spelt dagar gala or dakarkala) in Hinduism is an abbreviated form of Udakargala, which denotes the science of locating subsoil water veins, i.e. udaka, daka, daga, with the help of argali (a wooden stick) an art still practiced in several parts of the Indian subcontinent. Its antiquity is traceable as early as the 6 th century BC. In Vanupatha Jataka, it is stated that Buddha, in one of this earlier lives, i.e. Bodhisattva, as a merchant, while passing through a wilderness without water, comes across a lump of Kusha (grass). When he dug a hole there, water gushed out. A fairly detailed account of his science is described in chapter 53 of Brihat Samhita by Varahamihira captioned ‘Dagargala.’ However, Varahamihira was not the first to dwell upon this subject. He refers to the writings of Sarasvata and Manu from which much of the material must have been drawn. These were available to Bhattotpala (early 9 th century CE) who sites passages from them. However, they ar