Indigenous Water Resource Management in Sri Lanka

T.M. Piyadigama

(160490F) E7

University of Moratuwa

Engineering in Context

10.02.2017
 Indigenous Water Resource Management in Sri Lanka 2

Abstract

The philosophical background, origin, and current awareness of the indigenous water
management technology in Sri Lanka is studied. The modern explanation of the
mechanisms was discussed. Comparing indigenous water management technology and
modern water management technology, policy level recommendations for policy
making institutions were provided.

Keywords: irrigation , reservoirs , water management, wewa , bisokotuwa , diya thali

 Indigenous Water Resource Management in Sri Lanka 3

Table of Contents

Terms and notations……………………………………...4

Historical Approach……………………………………..6

Philosophical Background……………………………....10

Current Awareness……………………………………...23

Policy level recommendations………………………….25

References……………………………………………….29
 Indigenous Water Resource Management in Sri Lanka 4

Terms and Notations

Having her own water management tradition ancient ceylon (Sri Lanka) has
constructed new terms and usages in Sinhala language (The most spoken language in
Sri Lanka) so it is reasonable to use the same terminology rather than attaching the
concepts with signifiers in a western nomenclature in the basis of mere similarities.
Therefore this work is composed using the Sinhala nomenclature in Roman letters in
order to avoid any ambiguity that can be occurred when attaching concepts with English
terms. For instance, the Sinhala term is used instead of the word 'tank' despite the fact
many authors have translated so. The worst problem of using tank for 'wewa' would be
that a foreign reader may mislead into wrong conclusions, with the sense of tank in
actual western nomenclature which is not identical with 'wewa'.

When Sinhala terms are frequently used sometimes reader will find it difficult to
understand the text. Therefore this preliminary chapter is to provide the reader a clear
description of the frequently used terms with their relations to other words.

Wewa

Wewa (වැව) is the centre of Sri Lankan indigenous water management system.
Charles Carter(1924) states in his dictionary "වැව, n. E. of වා : lake, large pond or tank;
pl. වැ ." (p.582). This explains the inability of expressing wewa by 'tank'. Here Carter
provides meaning of wewa connecting it to the sanskrit term waapi (වා ). According to
the famous dictionary of sanskrit by Monier Williams(1970) the meaning of waapi is "f.
= vāpī, a pond BhP. (cf. Uṇ. iv, 124) ." Sanskrit dictionary for spoken
sanskrit(anonymous) provides pond, oblong pond, tank, lake, particular constellation,
oblong reservoirs of water. Wewa is basically a reservoir. Wewa has special
characteristics unique to Sri Lanka so sanskrit word is also connected with wewa by a
diachronic relation rather than a synchronic relation. Therefore wewa should be
understood by its description which is given later in this report. Kuḷam is the term
 Indigenous Water Resource Management in Sri Lanka 5

Tamils use to signify wewa in northern parts of Sri Lanka.( ள )¹ n. prob. ெகா -. cf.
kūla. [T. kolanu, K. koḷa, M. kuḷam.] 1. Tank, pond, reservoir; தடாக . (ப .) 2. Lake; ஏரி.
ள கீ வ ைள த . . . ெவ ெண ( றநா. 33, 5). 3. ("Tamil Lexicon" , 1924-1936)

Amuna

Amuna (අ ණ) is "dam or embankment of paddy field." according to Carter(1924).

Amuna is not restricted to that. Generally amuna is a low height dam (p.56)

Ela

Carter(1924) says Ela (ඇළ) is " n. brook, water-course, channel; trench, canal,
aqueduct." (p. 105). Canal is the common term used to express Ela in English.
 Indigenous Water Resource Management in Sri Lanka 6

Historical Approach

When we discuss the historic development of irrigations systems in Sri Lanka the
distribution of the settlements of earlier inhabitants should be concerned necessarily.
Against the popular theory that civilizations and earlier settlements are always
generated in wet zones, earlier settlements in Sri Lanka were located in the dry zone.
Still (as cited in Toynbee ,1934) says

 It is a curious fact that ... the bulk of the population and most of the wealth
have been found on the wet side of the line during the four centuries of
European rule* ... To make money, one stays as a rule on the wet side, but to
see the ruins of temples or monasteries, of palaces or engineering works, one
must go to the dry side of the line. 1 . . . For the hills where we grow tea and
rubber [the ancient Sinhalese] did not care.

  Firstly we may consider why Sinhalese wanted to build a irrigational system while
other cultures were unaware of such work (Parker, 1909).

Establishing settlements in dry zone, Sinhalese had to manage the water they
used for paddy cultivation because the distribution of rainfall is not
satisfactory. Northern area of the country is a flat land with residue
mountains so Sinhalese are supplied with a optimum landscape to build a
reservoir systems. The existence of rivers flow through curved paths provides
opportunity to construct embankments across them at the slower places and
directed water to waterways. These are the reasons widely accepted by the
historians who consider the landscape is the prominent foundation for a
civilisation.

According to Siriweera(1982) "The early civilisation of Sri Lanka began during the
second half of the first millennium B.C. in the Dry Zone which covers about seventy
percent of the total land area of the island"(p.8)

As Toynbee(1934) explains:
 Indigenous Water Resource Management in Sri Lanka 7

The irrigation system in a flat country must, of course, be based on the

conservation of water in reservoirs and the construction of channels to
supply water to the maximum possible acreage around them. The ancient
Sinhalese constructed reservoirs with remarkable skill. Some of them were of
considerable size, great artificial lakes, and many of these 'tanks'

The indigenous irrigational system of Sri Lanka is categorized system under two
sectors.

Two different systems of irrigation were adopted , depending on the

circumstance of each case. According to one the water was impounded in
reservoirs, from which it was gradually passed out, either directly onto the
fields where it was wanted, or by means of excavated channels down which it
flowed to them. (Parker, 1909)

Parker(1909) states further,

According to other system, part of the water flowing down the rivers was
turned into longer excavated channels which conveyed it to more distant
lands, or reservoirs, temporary dams or permanent masonry dams being
constructed across the rivers below the off-takes of the channels in order to
divert into them a larger quantity of water than could be secured without such
aid when the flow of the rivers began to diminish the end of the seasonal
rains of two monsoons.

The first recorded evidence of a wewa is about a wewa made by Prince Anuradha in
Anuruddha gama where was named Anuradhagama that time. It was reported in
 Indigenous Water Resource Management in Sri Lanka 8

Mahavansa(Turnour, 1836) as "Anuradha built a tank and when he had built a palace to
the south of this, he took up his abode there." But that wewa is not identified and
archeologist tend to believe that what Anuradha constructed was only a village tank.

There are some inscription which mention wewas some of which are believed to be
constructed in Pre- Vijayan era (before 6th c. B.C.).

Generally historians divide ancient Sri Lankan irrigation history into three stages.

King Vijaya to King Vasabha - Era of small wewas

King Vasabha to King Mahasen - Era of medium scale wewas

King Mahasen to King Parakramabahu 2nd- Era of large wewas

In first era small wewas were built. Firstly wewas were for the purpose of
accumulating water from the direct rainfall and then people learned to construct amunu
(embankments) across rivers and to direct water to waterways. Siriweera (1982) says "
The ownership of irrigation works by individuals also is evident from the occurrence of
the term vapi-hamika or tank-owner in Sinhalese inscriptions from earliest times,."(p.8)

In the second era, we can identity the kings who had their inclination  toward
expanding small wewas and built medium scale wewas. King Vasabha set a best
example for such kings. The subway water transportation technology was invented in
King Vasabha's time. Mahavansa name that technology Ummagga Jala Mathuka.

When the king had constructed many bathing-tanks here and there in the
capital he brought water to them by subterranean canals. And in this way
carrying out various works of merit king Vasabha did away with the
hindrances (to long life), and delighting perpetually in well doing he reigned
 Indigenous Water Resource Management in Sri Lanka 9

forty-four years in the capital. He appointed also forty-four Vesakha-

festivals.(Turnour , 1826)

It was after king Mahasen, Sinhalese began to built large wewas. Minneriya wewa is
an example. By the middle of the Pollonnaruwa era, satisfying conditions of wealth,
power and political stability, larger wewas were built connecting middle scale wewas.
Parakrama Samudhraya (Ocean of Parakramabahu) was the most gigantic work that
was done in this era.

When it is remembered that, for example, the tank known as Minneriya had
(and has) a bund several miles long and about 50 feet high, it becomes clear
that a very large labour force must have been employed, and very carefully
organized. This  particular tank is 4,560 acres in extent when full of water. ...
It was fed by a canal 25 miles in length, dug in the fourth century [a.d.].
Another canal, which brought water to Anuradhapura, was 54 miles long, and
irrigated 180 square miles; for the first 17 miles of this canal the gradient is
only 6 inches to the mile, which aptly illustrates the ability of the irrigation
engineers of those times. (Toynbee & Caplan,  )*

The canal Toynbee(1988)  mentioned above is "Yoda Ela" or the Gigantic Canal.
 Indigenous Water Resource Management in Sri Lanka 10

     

 Philosophical Background

It is a curious fact that ancient Sri Lanka had a complete system of irrigation while
any other civilisation were unaware of such things. Is it mere a result of the sense of
necessity and having appropriate landscape? Is the whole technology developed in
ancient Sri Lanka was constructed by just trial and error?

Some historians believed that answers to the each questions to be yes. For instance,
Parker(1826) argued that if all external causes (landscape and rainfall ) would have
been equal other civilisations would construct similar systems of irrigation. He pointed
out that some similarities can be found in South Indian Irrigational work and argued that
early inhabitants of Sri Lanka knew the basic technology of irrigation even before they
migrated to Sri Lanka from India. He further argued Africans had no requirement to built
such systems and the concept of a complete irrigational system is totally beyond their
imagination.

In general, most of the people, even some philosophers and epistemologists tend to
believe western science is the scale of knowledge. Western science is considered to be
a knowledge system where results are obtained by reliable procedure called scientific
method. Many tried to emphasis importance and reliability of western science over
other knowledge systems and produced sets of rules to compare knowledge systems.
This view compelled to believe historians that it is impossible to exist a systematic
method behind indigenous irrigational work.
 Indigenous Water Resource Management in Sri Lanka 11

That view was challenged when an old sluice was found by excavation in the exact
place that modern engineers calculated as the most appropriate for a sluice in the
Maduru Oya reservoir construction project.

It was reported in the "Economic review"(1985)

A major re-design of the proposed new irrigation outlet structures of the Maduru
Oya project became necessary when the presence of an ancient "horowwa"
(sluice) was discovered directly on the original alignment of the Right Bank, Outlet
Works.

"Economic Review" (1985) reports further:

After the breached ancient bund was discovered in this dramatic fashion
engineers wondered whether there were further surprises in store because a
headworks with such a massive embankment had to have other appurtenant
structure, namely, one or more sluices, and a spillway. In due course a massive
sluice was unearthed. It's construction in brick work of extremely good and
consistent quality, bonded with resin made it one of the most remarkable
discoveries in the treasure house of rare archaeological finds in the country in
recent times. Some samples were sent for carbon dating in USA and it was found
that these bricks are about 1,600 years old. The identification of this ancient
structure has not yet been firmly established.

Another marvel of indigenous Sri Lankan water management is bisokotuwa.

Bisokotuwa is a sluice of wewa. The mechanism of besokotuwa is different from an
ordinary sluice and this mechanism has not properly explained yet.
 Indigenous Water Resource Management in Sri Lanka 12

The famous "Yoda Ela" is consisted of some structures called "Diyathali" ,

mechanism of which has not been interpreted yet.

These facts influence us to come into the conclusion that contribution of Sinhalese
to water management is not merely folk wisdom.

Then the next thing we have to solve is whether Sinhala culture had such a special
philosophical background that this systematic irrigation works are constructed.

Some researchers have found south indian inscriptions saying Sinhalese experts
came there to handle irrigational systems.  Therefore the apparent similarities in South
Indian irrigational systems can be results of Sri Lankan work in fact.

The great historian Toynbee(1988) says:

...and the equally arduous feat of conquering the parched plains of Ceylon for
agriculture is commemorated in the breached bunds and overgrown floors of the
tanks which were once constructed on the wet side of the hill-country, on a
colossal scale, by the Sinhalese converts to the Indie religion of the Hinayana.

*To realise how such tanks came into being one must know something of the
history of Lanka. The idea underlying the system was simple but very great. It
was intended by the tank-building kings that none of the rain which fell in such
abundance in the mountains should reach the sea without paying tribute to Man
on the way.

This explains the cultural influence for the irrigational works to some extent. Rulers
attitudes would undoubtedly be a cause for the success of irrigational works. But, we
should not forget that even before kings contributed to built reservoirs villagers
themselves made village wewas. Therefore the idea of those irrigational system was
 Indigenous Water Resource Management in Sri Lanka 13

not born only because of the attitudes of a ruling class. The attitudes had come from
the bottom of the social system to the top (One may say that top, bottom used here in a
western view. ).

The irrigation works of Sri Lanka should be interpreted as a result of the culture in
Sri Lanka completely for a proper understanding. From where did Sinhalese had the idea
of irrigation? Though Buddhism played a major role in the development in Sri Lankan
culture, the idea of irrigation seemed to be have come from pre-Buddhist era. It is
apparent that Buddhist culture influenced the development of irrigational systems but
origin had come from elsewhere. Most of the history chronicles of Sri Lanka were
written in the intention to describe Buddhist Era so inscriptions and village folks are the
main resources to gain knowledge on irrigational works in pre-Historic times.

It is commonly spoken among village folks the phrase "a wewa constructed by a
Yakkha". Yakkha was a pre-historic tribe of Sri Lanka which was latterly joined with
other tribes to form Sinhala nation. Yakkhas were generally considered to be a powerful
group of people with enormous body strength. Therefore some people tend to believe
Sri Lankan irrigational technology has Yakkha origin. Yakkhas were the ones who are
credited for the ancient iron industry of Sri Lanka, which was apparently the most
successful iron industry of that time so theories explaining origins of irrigational works
was to be in Yakkhas are unavoidable. There is another theory saying irrigational works
were firstly constructed  by the tribe Naga , another Prehistoric tribe of Sri Lanka.
According to folk wisdom Nagas had a strong connection with water. Therefore some
people say Nagas should be accredited as founders of the ancient irrigational system. A
strong evidence supporting their theory is a emblem which is consisting of one to seven
hoods of cobras entangled together. This emblem is commonly found to be in near
water reservoirs. Since cobra is the emblem of Nagas this provides a strong evidence to
connect Nagas with ancient irrigational system. Purpose of this symbol is not identified
yet.

It is a complex study to identify the philosophy underlying ancient irrigational

system. Many of the western theories to explain the construction of knowledge systems
fail in Asian contexts. For instance, famous social scientist Huntington(1997) was
 Indigenous Water Resource Management in Sri Lanka 14

careful not to interpret the behaviours of Theravada countries by means of his term
civilisation.

Introducing the constructive relativism, a theory explaining the epistemological

foundations of indigenous technologies of Sinhala Buddhist culture de Silva says "The
logic of the present approach is cyclic and fourfold, and not Aristotelian." This
cyclic logical nation of Sinhala Buddhist Chinthanaya can be identified in their
irrigational works also.

Sri Lankan irrigational system basically accumulates water without stopping

dynamic change of water flow. The cyclic logical nation of Sinhalese culture is essential
to build such systems.

To briefly explain, the river becomes wewa and the wewa becomes river. Water
directed to paddy fields also added to the river again through small wewas.
Underground water becomes water in wewa or ela and water in wewa or canal become
underground water.

Therefore in Sri Lankan irrigation system, a sort of dynamic equilibrium prevails

while water is directed to the locations of demand. This difference is clearly visible
when contrasting to modern american system.

Sinhala buddhist culture does not see in the way that the world is owned by man and
so man has the power and right to change it for their need. Sinhala buddhists tried to
extend the natural procedures in order to fulfill their needs. It is like requesting nature
(Here the term nature used in non-objectivism context - just whole environment ) to
fulfill their nature rather than challenging and continuously conflicting with nature.

Therefore Sinhala buddhists never bother to prevent their waterways used by

 Indigenous Water Resource Management in Sri Lanka 15

animals. Their works were for everyone.

Another important fact is that Sinhala buddhists had the tolerance to fulfill their
needs in the way the nature do it notwithstanding the slowness or amount of manual
labour needed. Hence, they were not discouraged to construct long canals with low
inclinations.

On the contrary, modern irrigation system designers see the nature as an obstacle to
struggle with and design man-centered, short termed and low cost plans. They use
concrete to the basins. Concrete separates water from soil whereas in indigenous
system use of clay does not much interrupt the contact between soil and water.

Therefore there is a tendency to wells in the surrounding area drying up after some
time. Sharp slopes of modern canals causes fast flow of water so tendency of drying up
water become far higher. Concrete should be repaired so continuously that durability is
low.

Sri Lankans never tried to built wewas in the hill-country. Instead they built small
dams against small brooks. Against the ancient tradition, most of the reservoirs in
Mahaweli Projects were built in hill-country. Most of these reservoirs were unsuccessful
because soil was not appropriate for reservoirs. Humidity changes due to these
reservoirs was a reason for the destruction of species cultivation in hill-country. It
implies the richness of indigenous irrigation technology.

According to folklore , Yodha Ela (Canal of Giants) were made by imitating the
footpath of a pregnant she-goat in order to maintain its proper inclination.

Kala wewa is a source for several folklores which imply nature of the philosophical
background. According to one Kala wewa was made by a person named Kala-Hita who
 Indigenous Water Resource Management in Sri Lanka 16

was an expert of building reservoir. King's policemen found him being with animals in a
jungle where he had gone due to a family problem. Kala Hita built Kala wewa
successfully but when once in a harsh weather the dam failed and Kala-Hita suicided on
that moment. He is believed to be still protecting the wewa as a superhuman Yakkha.

Another folklore explains Kala wewa got its name due to a small child named Kala
who stops a leakage of the dam for a whole night.

A similar story is in Netherlands too.

The writer of Sri Lankan history chronicle Mahavansa and uncle of King Dhatusena
said to his nephew to build Kala wewa when they were running away from invaders.

Later, when King Dhatusena was imprisoned by his son Moggallana and asked to
show the treasure he had hidden he went to Kala wewa and said this was the only
treasure he had. This express how tank building kings valued their work.

Another interesting folklore is about Sora-Bora wewa. Sora-bora wewa is believed to

be a work of a single person named Bulatha who served betel leaves to the king.

When the Dutch ruled coastal area of Sri Lanka, they were eloquent to built canals
and waterways. Dutch is generally considered to be the most experienced european
nation on irrigational systems. However most of the canals made by dutch were
completely unsuccessful and sea water mixed to inland water reservoirs through those
canals so people named them as Moda Ela (Canal of the folly). These reservoirs caused
to make many cultivation areas into marshes. This is another example to the success of
ancient irrigational system.

Sri Lankan administration system is based on tanks. " Village and temple, wewa and
dagaba" is a popular slogan to impress Sinhala culture.
 Indigenous Water Resource Management in Sri Lanka 17

One wewa to one village was the main theme. Hence the centre of the structure of
ancient Sri Lankan villages was wewa.

Though most western history writers often state that the manual labour needed for
huge projects of a complete reservoir system is apparently gained trough slaves but
this argument is based on the false assumption that feudal age was in the every part of
the world.

There is no evidence though some people used to say there was a feudal age in Sri
Lanka. Most people owning the private land Sri Lanka had a different system of
obtaining manual labour. Sri Lanka can be encountered as one of the most ancient
nation states in the world. In the feudal era people were bound to the land and they had
to work for the owners of those lands. Therefore they had not a sense of ownership in
public properties so Counts and Dukes had to force them to work to built them. These
peasants lives were full of dissatisfactory. On the contrary being a nation state ancient
Sri Lankan people had the sense of ownership in public property and they supported
huge projects without dissatisfaction. According to Mahinda thero who was initiate to
introduce buddhism to Sri Lanka king does not own the country and he just takes care
of the country.

This philosophical view helped Sinhalese to separate public work from private work.

The system which used to obtain workers was constructed on a simple but
important law. Every person had a specific number of days per year to be involved in
public services. Those times money was rarely used and good exchange was the main
method of transaction. Hence, it was not make sense to pay salaries or wages. But
there are some rare occasions people were paid. According to most stories. People
rejected to take salaries saying public work is for themselves. This implies that
philosophical background in ancient Ceylon made people feel the importance of large
projects.

Nakamura(1996) explains the way in which water supply for cultivations arranged:
 Indigenous Water Resource Management in Sri Lanka 18

Where irrigation water is not flow but stock in stored condition, even a common
farmer has been able to estimate the amount of water available for the coming
agricultural season at a glance. In fact, cultivators in the command area of the
stored system in Sri Lanka and South India have organised themselves and held
seasonal meetings to decide jointly the date for the inception of irrigation, the extent
land for irrigated crops and the mode of water distribution from the stored system
without any bureaucratic nor political authority. The stored system has been
essentially constructed and maintained by the collective efforts of the peasant
cultivators in the concerned area, and the irrigation water has been duly allocated by
village organisations themselves except the cases of the highly developed stored
systems like large- scale reservoir networks which arc interconnected by trans-basin
canals.

To sum up, the philosophical background of ancient ceylon ensured the occurrence
of a sophisticated water resource management system.

A brief technical description on features of indigenous water management systems.

Wewa

The basic meaning was discussed before. There are several important parts of wewa.

Bunt Dam

Wewa is constructed by attaching two residue mountains with a bunt dam. Bunts
were various shapes according to the landscape.
 Indigenous Water Resource Management in Sri Lanka 19

Sorowwa (Sluice)

Sluice of ancient Sri Lankan reservoirs are not mere cuts of the embankment. For
small wewas they used cuts in the more previous works. But when Sinhalese began to
construct medium scale and large scale reservoirs output water through a cutting is
impractical.

In an engineering context a cut of the embankment is a place where pressure is

constrained so they are weaker areas of dam bunt. When we consider a medium scale
or a large scale wewa pressure acting on the dam bunt is huge and apparently water
should be put out through a lower level of the dam otherwise water below the cut
cannot be taken out.

Sinhalese managed to solve this problem by introducing "keta sorowwa for medium
scale wewas.

Ausadahamy (1999) states (as cited in Pieris ,2016.):

The outgoing water from small village level tanks were controlled by using
temporary cuts in the earthen banks. In medium size tanks this was done by using a
technique called Keta Sorrowva (Figure 1) The flow rate of the outgoing water from
the vcwa was controlled by a number of "Keta" kept one on top of the other )

By this method the head of water entering the sluice was controlled.

Jayasena (2012) states:

 Indigenous Water Resource Management in Sri Lanka 20

Kota  sorowwa  essentially  consisted  of  clay cylindrical  pilings,  stacked  one  on 
top  of  the other  and  placed  upstream  in  place  of  the vertical  shaft  discussed 
above,  so  that  removal of  a  single  piling  administers  a  certain discharge
downstream.

According to Pieris (2016),

In much bigger tanks(Vewa) with depths of about 30-40 ft. like Nuwara vewa, Tissa
vewa, Kala vewa at Anuradhapura, Urisita vewa at Sooriyavawa etc..controlling the
outgoing water by the above method is not possible.

Bisokotuwa

The water distribution from large scale wewas is unable to controlled by using a
Sluice alone. Bisokotuwa is the invention done by Sinhalese to overcome this  problem.

Bisokotuwa is also called as cistern sluice or valve pit by some authors. This feature
is unique to Sri Lanka. Therefore apparently this is a Sri Lankan innovation. There is a
similar structure named Soma sutra in Cambodian Khmer civilisation and because of
the strong connection between Sri Lanka and Khmer civilisation it is obvious that Khmer
civilisation  had this structures from ancient Sri Lankans.

Parker (1909) states :

whatever form the design took, it was a triumph of the ingenuity of the ancient
Sinhalese engineers. It was this invention alone, which permitted them to proceed
boldly with the construction of reservoirs that still rank among the finest and
greatest works of this kind in the world”. Thus the ancient Sri Lankans were the
inventors of the valve-pit more than 2000 years before it was used in the West in the
19th century. 
 Indigenous Water Resource Management in Sri Lanka 21

Bisokotuwa is a rectangular shaped well just before the sluice. Bisokotuwa was
made of Granite plains. It is believed that Bisokotuwa was consisted of gates made of
wood.

Pieris (2016) states:

In most cases this is an enclosure 8-12 ft long and 8-10 ft wide, built across the
culvert in the upstream side of the dam. It has thick walls of brickwork laid in
mortar, around which there is an excellent water tight backing of tempered clay"Puddle".
At most works the brick is faced or lined inside the well with admirably cut thin slabs of
stone laid horizontally and invariably on their edges, which fit closely together <4) . The
Purpose of all these construction methodologies would be to prevent water leakage to
the bund from Bisokotuwa.

Pieris(2016) states further:

As shown in figure 2 Bisokotuwa consists of a rectangular tank connected to the

sluice, in almost all the cases the longer side of the rectangle is kept parallel to the bund.
Though Any evidence regarding the gates of the Bisokotuwa is not found up to now, the
speculated gates which would have been made out of wood and controlled by a system
of levers, shown in figure 2 are mostly accepted by present day scholars.

The mechanism of bisokotuwa is still in controversy. Pieris K. Engineer works in

NERD (National Engineering Research and Development Centre) explains as below:

Due to high velocity gradient, the velocity of inlet water is reduced by shear stress
instead of increasing of pressure.When water is going out from the vewa, first water
enters the Bisokotuwa. In the Bisokotuwa the head of water entering it is decreased
 Indigenous Water Resource Management in Sri Lanka 22

by subjecting it to higher shear stress. Bisokotuwa is a non-destructive energy

dissipation tank. For this to take place properly the volume of water inside the
Bisokotuwa is important. The large cross sections of Bisokotuwa stated above will
fulfill this requirement. If the volume of Bisokotuwa is too small the formation of
above mentioned high velocity gradients shear stresses and pressure drop will not
take place.Also when the width of the Bisokotuwa (side parallel to the bund) is large,
diversion of stream lines in that direction will be more and shear forces will take
place resulting in high energy losses. In some vewas for example Urusita vewa at
Sooriyavewa, water enters Bisokotuwa by one conduit (sluice) at the bottom centre
and goes out by two conduits beginning from the bottom of wall (Figure 5).With this
arrangement the effect of momentum of inlet water to outlet water will be
minimized i.e. out flow will be much calmer. By looking at the sluices within the
dams and at sketches by Parker of water flow within these sluices it could be
inferred that the water flow within these sluices would have been mainly free gravity
flow. Bisokotuwa is also used to divert water flows. One such example is seen at an
outlet from Parakkramasamudra (Figure 6). In this case water enters the
Bisokotuwa on one side and leaves it at the perpendicular side. The forces required
to divert the flow of water is obtained from water itself (inside the
Bisokotuwa)Therefore no effects such as erosion of conduits will take place.

Ralapanawa

Ralapanawa is a structure made to prevent bunt dam from erosion. It is constructed

by using granite plates and shaped like a staircase

Thawulla

The area which marked the maximum water level of a wewa.

Pita wana
 Indigenous Water Resource Management in Sri Lanka 23

Pitawana is used to displace excessive water from wewa.

Athulu wana

Water inlet of a wewa is athul wana.

Kulu wewa

Kulu wewa is a small wewa used to deposit mud particles of water before main
wewa. The water directed to paddy fields also again added to water resources through a
Kulu wewa

Canals

A special feature of canals can be seen in Yodha Ela , giant's canal. It is named as
"Diya thali"

No one in present knows how this works. No one has explained yet. It would be a
device to slow the motion of water.

Karahana

This is a device used to distribute water to paddy fields.

 Indigenous Water Resource Management in Sri Lanka 24

Current Awareness of Ancient Water Management Technology

Now, Sri Lankans also use western hydraulic technology for their modern works.
Mahaweli project and Nawa jaya ganga project are examples. All these programmes are
less success contrasting to ancient works. For instance most Mahaveli reservoirs
cannot bear water upto the estimated level and their are several environmental
problems occurred due to these projects. Same can be said for Nawa jaya ganga
project. Fountains in the surrounding area have dried up. The reason is that the rapid
flow of water in the canal because of ill managed engineering plan produce a low
pressure area near them to where underground water is sucked up.

Ancient irrigational works are still used to fulfill the demand of for paddy cultivation
in the most parts of the country. Most of the ancient works have been destructed due to
the invasions.

Most of these reservoirs were constructed in the colonial era by engineers like Walsh
Wrightson, R.A. Powell and T.J. Piggot.

Gunawardena(as in Intirapala, K.,1978) states that these engineers came into the
 Indigenous Water Resource Management in Sri Lanka 25

conclusion that bisokotuwa is an important design. In some wewas like Pavatkulam old
sluices pulled down and rebuilt according to the modern design. But for most of the
cases that was unnecessary. Addition of sluice door with a lifting gear is sufficient. This
is how ancient wewas used in present.

The mechanism of Bisokotuwa was unclear and the most satisfactory explanation
was produced by Pieris K.. It is based on the basic assumption that bisokotuwa has
gates.

But, Pieris K. again states:

The above analysis of the function of the Bisokotuwa can be used to emphasize the
importance of this ancient hydraulic structure.Basically it serves as a surge tank,
water pressure and velocity reducer and a gate-retaining pit. Further this will lead us
to investigate the possibility of using the Bisokotuwa as a flow meter and also to
investigate further regarding ancient gates of the Bisokotuwa, which is not yet
finalized. Also it should be mentioned here that we cannot exactly say that there was
a gate for bisokotuwa. The above said main function of bisokotuwa could be
achieved even without gates. Problem of gate should be analyzed by considering
whole system i.e. the whole soil-water ecosystem.

The canals and amunus are also still in use.But special features of this structure
have not been yet explained for instances Diya Thali.

There are few investigations done into the people who belongs to later generations
of the guilds who built this irrigational systems. Therefore it is doubtful if the ancient
technology still remains in Sri Lanka.

The philosophical background based on these large irrigational works still can be
 Indigenous Water Resource Management in Sri Lanka 26

identified and there are some people who try to explore the importance of those
attitudes to get rid of environmental crisis.
 Indigenous Water Resource Management in Sri Lanka 27

Policy Level Recommendations

It was mentioned in the above that Sri Lanka had a great irrigational culture and still
inhabitants of the island benefit those works. But the technology those works were
constructed is not to be found in these days and mechanisms given through modern
western science are still in controversy so government and other institutions used
modern ways for water management. These modern methods are not successful to the
extent which ancient methods were.

Therefore, it is important to find the ways to reveal the ancient technology.

The basic reason why Sri Lanka is yet unable to regain indigenous water
management is the attitudes of the policy making institutions.

It is generally considered by those institutions that western science is the most

systematic developed knowledge. This biased attitude is harmful in several ways.

Firstly, these institutions tend to believe everything should be proved according to the
measures of western science. Therefore, apparently success indigenous methods are
also not in use saying not have been proved scientifically.There attitude is "what is
compatible with science should live, what is not compatible with science, should die"

Paul Feyerabend(1993) states:

But science is not sacrosanct. The mere fact that it exists, is admired, has results is
not sufficient for making it a measure of excellence.

Further he states:
 Indigenous Water Resource Management in Sri Lanka 28

Neither science nor rationality are universal measures of excellence. They are
Particular traditions, unaware of their historical grounding

Then, scholars and students are influenced to believe that indigenous technologies
are only a mere result of trial and error and then they do not try to spend there time on
research into indigenous technologies. According to them, there is only one science in
the world and it is strictly developing so all indigenous technologies are contained in
modern western science or if not sooner that will be included in.

Another thing is that the researchers too do not consider the spiritual basis of
ancient technology and say the culture connected to those technologies is a myth
centred.

Feyerabend(1993) states:

There is no idea, however ancient and absurd, that is not capable of improving
our knowledge. The whole history of thought is absorbed into science and is used
for improving every single theory. Nor is political interference rejected. It may be
needed to overcome the chauvinism of science that resists alternatives to the status
quo

The professionalists also think that to get help of the indigenous technologists is to
downgrade their professional status.

Therefore this western science centred policies should be altered immediately and
government should have equal eloquence towards indigenous technologies as well as
western science .
 Indigenous Water Resource Management in Sri Lanka 29

Paul Feyerabend(1993) states:

Finally, the kind of comparison that underlies most methodologies is possible

only in some rather simple cases. It breaks down when we try to compare non-
scientific views with science and when we consider the most advanced, most
general and therefore most mythological parts of science itself.

Therefore it is clear that policy making institutions should avoid western science
centred attitudes and give equal opportunities to indigenous technologies too. Then a
general survey should be done to find the people and books of indigenous water
management technology.

Then students should be influenced to learn and research on indigenous

technologies.

Indigenous technologies should be used where it is applicable if the success of that

is proved by history without waiting until they are proved in the western measures.

Technicians and engineers of indigenous system should be paid equal as western

technicians and engineers protection of their professions should be ensured by policies.

The spiritual and metaphysical methods used in indigenous technology should not be
excluded by authorities being in western views. It is efficient to be trying on various
methods of obtaining knowledge.

People should be encouraged to study the philosophy of the indigenous water

management and construct and reconstruct theories in the basis of that philosophy.
 Indigenous Water Resource Management in Sri Lanka 30

Authorities should be careful not to damage ancient irrigational works when they
construct modern works.

The money that allocates to water management should be increased.

The government and other institutions should be based on nationalistic concepts. A

free society is a myth because thinking is essentially bound with concepts and
presumed theories. One of the main priorities of a nation state is the advancement of
indigenous technologies in a nationalistic view.

Finally government should ensure the proper and regular maintenance of irrigational
works and distribution of water in the correct process.
 Indigenous Water Resource Management in Sri Lanka 31

References

Carter, C. (1924). A sinhalese-english dictionary. Colombo: Ceylon Observer.

de Silva, N. (2005). Constructive relativism

Feyerabend, P. (1993). Against method. Verso.

Huntington, S. P. (1997). The clash of civilizations and the remaking of world order. Penguin
Books India.

Intirapālā, K. (1978). Senarat Paranavitana commemoration volume (Vol. 7). S. Paranavitana, L.

Prematilleka, & J. E. van Lohuizen-De Leeuw (Eds.). Brill.

Jayasena, H. (2012). Socio-technical aspects of water management in sri lanka: The past and the
present. Ceylon Journal of Science (Physical Sciences), 16, 19–30

“Tamil Lexicon ”(1924). 1939. Madras: University of Madras.

Monier-Williams, M. (1970). Sanskrit-english dictionary.

Nakamura, H. (1996). Stored irrigation system in Sri Lanka with some comparative reference in
 Indigenous Water Resource Management in Sri Lanka 32

northeast Thailand

Panabokke, C. (2002). Small tanks in sri lanka: evolution, present status, and issues. IWMI.

Parker, H. (1909). History of ceylon. Madras: Indian Library.

Peiris, K., & Wijesinghe, S. (2016). Introduction to the Function of Bisokotuwa in Ancient Vewa.
Engineer: Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Sri Lanka,41(3).

Siriweera, W. (1982). Water resources and buffalo and cattle rearing in sri lanka: a historical
perspective. Agrarian Research and Training Institute.

Toynbee, A. J. (1988). A study of history [1934]. New York: Portland House.

Turnour, G. (1836). The first twenty chapters of the mahawanso: and a prefatory essay on pali
buddhistical literature originally published as an introduction to the above mentioned portion of
the mahawanso and to the epitome of the history of ceylon and the historical inscriptions printed
in the ceylon almanacs of 1833 and 1834. Cotta church mission Press.
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