Yoda Wewa - Mannar District
The Yodha Wewa in Mannar is one of the largest tanks in the island and
was It was built by King Dhatusena (459-477) by damming the Malwatu-oya,
later known as Manawatuwewa. The tank is fed by an ancient canal,
recently restored, which carries water from the Malwatu Oya river.
British irrigation engineers who discovered Yoda Weva ( Giant's Tank)
in the 19th century failed to comprehend the design of this tank which
was in ruins and considered a great failure. Sir James Emerson Tennent
in 1860 wrote in his publication " Ceylon - an account of the island
physical, historical, and topographical with notices or its natural history.
antiquities and productions" :
"From Anarajapoora, I returned to the west coast,
following the line of the Malwatte-oya, the ancient
Kadamba, which flows into the Gulf of Manaar, north
of Aripo. Within a few miles of the coast our party
passed, at Taikum, the immense causeway of cut
granite, two hundred and fifty yards in length, and
upwards of fifteen feet high, by which it was attempted
to divert the waters of the river into the canal, that was
designed to supply the Giants' Tank. None of the great
reservoirs of Ceylon have attracted so much attention
as this stupendous work. The retaining bund of the
reservoir, which is three hundred feet broad at the
base, can be traced for more than fifteen miles, and, From Anarajapoora,
I returned to the west coast,
following the line of the Malwatte-oya, the ancient
Kadamba, which flows into the Gulf of Manaar, north
of Aripo. Within a few miles of the coast our party
passed, at Taikum, the immense causeway of cut
granite, two hundred and fifty yards in length, and
upwards of fifteen feet high, by which it was attempted
to divert the waters of the river into the canal, that was
designed to supply the Giants' Tank. None of the great
reservoirs of Ceylon have attracted so much attention
as this stupendous work. The retaining bund of the
reservoir, which is three hundred feet broad at the
base, can be traced for more than fifteen miles, and,as the country is level,
the area· which its waters were
intended to cover would have been nearly equal to that
of the lake of Geneva.
The lake is a paradise for migrating birds
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At the present day the bed of
the tank is the site of ten Populous villages, and of
eight which are now deserted. Its restoration was
successively an object of solicitude to the Dutch and
British Governments, and surveys were ordered at
various times to determine the expediency of reconstructing
it. Its history has always been a subject of
unsatisfied inquiry, as the national chronicles contain
no record of its founder. A recent discovery has, however,
served to damp alike historical and utilitarian
speculations; for it has been ascertained that, owing to
an error in the original levels, the canal from the river,
instead of feeding the tank, returned its unavailing
waters to the channel of the Malwatte river. Hence the
costly embankment was an utter waste of labour, and the
Singhalese historians, disheartened by the failure of the
attempt, appeared to have made no record of the persons
or the period at which the abortive enterprise was undertaken."
In land fishing
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Dr. Ananda W.P. Guruge in The waterlords of ancient Sri Lanka (
UNESCO Courier , Jan, 1985 ) describes this failure of modern european
engineers to comprehend the ancient wisdom in Sri Lanka,
"Many a modern engineer has been baffled by the sophisticated
designs on which these reservoirs and channel systems were constructed.
It is known that the Dutch engineers of the eighteenth century and their
British counterparts in the nineteenth failed to understand the design
of the giant tank near Mannar on the northwestern coast. Only in
recent years, when the tank was restored in conformity with the original
design, was it found that leveling by the unknown engineer of the
past was vastly superior to that attempted by modern engineers."
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There were two parallel line of embankment towards the sea which were
then joined by a flat curved bund, the bund thus enclosed the tank on
three sides, making it possible to irrigate the land on both flanks as
well as the land in front. Though British condemned this as unsuccessful
engineering, Brohier saw the thinking behind it. Work on the Giants
tank appears to have been done in sections. The earthworks at the two
ends of the embankment and the feeder channels were constructed simultaneously.
Usually, the transbasin canals were built first and the tank was built
thereafter.
Yoda Wewa is situated about 25km southeast of Mannar in the Mannar District
in a semi-arid zone. A part of the tank bund is located along the Madawachchiya
- Mannar Road. The water from this tank is fed to 162 smaller tanks
downstream and irrigates about 11,000 hectares of paddy land.
For almost 3 decades parts of this tank was under Tamil Tiger terrorists
and the maintenance was neglected due to security reasons. The area which
was farmed with the waters were engulfed by the jungle. But in 2008 this
area was totally liberated by the Sri Lankan Armed forces and restoration
of the tank has already begun. Once the tank is fully restored to carry
the full volume of water, this area known as the rice bowl of the country
will once again live up to its name.
Created : June 8, 2009
Updated :
June 8, 2009
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