Special Occations of Sri Lankan Maritime History

The arrival of Prince Vijaya in 5th  century BC

Mahavamsa is the ancient and great chronicle of  Sri Lanka starts with the arrival of Prince Vijaya to Sri Lanka. He was a son of Sinhabahu the king of India. Sinhabahu set off Vijaya and his 700 followers from India to the north western coast of the Sri Lanka. It had been most risky to reach the sea to the island.

According to the Mahavamsa it is said that there had been three tribes named as Yakksha (Devils), Naga (cobras), Deva (Heaven). lived in this country. According to the history it is recorded that the Yakksha  had taken the kingdom of the country. Princess Kuvani the daughter of the Yakshayan tribe king was a beautiful girl who spend the time knitting. Vijaya married Kuvani and with the assistance of Kuvani he was able to gain the kingdom of the country. They gave birth to a girl and a boy.  As time passed prince Vijaya got married to a prince who was from India and banished Kuvani and her children to the forest. It is said that the Veddas of sri Lanka comes with this two children.   The North central province of Sri Lanka became a powerful kingdom under Vijaya's control. And it the beginning of the Aryan kingdom.

The second marriage of Vijaya do not have any children so he was sent to his brother's son king Panduwasadeva.

The Buddhist nun Sangamittha's arrival.

During the regin of  king Devanampiyatissa, Arahath Mahinda and his sermons visit in 3rd BC convert king Devanampiyatissa to Buddhist and which was spread among the people of  the country soon. It makes traditional for the all the kings to build temples and Dagabas in Sri Lanka. It became the leading development of Buddhism in sri Lankan history.

The arrival of Sangamitta with sapling of Bo- Tree under which Gautama Buddha attain enlightenment. She set her foot  to Jaffna peninsula  and planted it in Anuradapura which is known a one of the oldest tree which is respected and and devoted by million of people. From the day to date Buddhism continues over 2500 years. It is the begging of the Sri Lankan history.
FA -SHIEN  The great traveler (Buddhist monk)

FA -SHIEN   was a Chinese Buddhist monk who had traveled in central Asia in aim of strengthening and establishing Buddhism in Central Asia. His journey which was taken 5th century AD. He spent his ten  years of spreading Buddhism in India, Afghanistan, Ganges valley and Lanka and translated the Buddhist book to Chinese in 414 AD.

Pahingala  (FA -SHIEN's cave ) is a most popular place of tourist attraction. It is near to the town Bulathsinhala.  The oldest skeleton of the world was discovered in this cave which is said to be old over 20 000 years old.

IBN BATUTA( the traveler of the middle age 1344 AD)

IBN BATUTA was a Muslim traveler of the late middle age. H was a person born on 25th of February in 1304 and was a famous traveler who had traveled North Africa, East Africa, Middle East, Central Asia, South East Asia, China and Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka was named as Serendib by Arab traders. The stories of Arabian Nights name Sri Lanka as Serendib which they consider as the place where the ships are anchored and take rest. Colombo harbor had been the most popular place of Indian ocean and it had been a better place for trading.

Arrival of Dutch (in 1658 AD)

The Dutch India Company agrees with Rajasinha II to drive out the Portuguese. for to gain back the right of trade.The systematic rule of Dutch with law courts and and severe taxation. the coastal area of Colombo was taken under control by Dutch in 1956.

The last Sinhala king of Kandy were forced by Dutch to stop trading with any other nations expected. later on they tries to invade to the central of Ceylon.

They leaved leaving the The Roman Dutch Law which is the most respected basic law system. They ruled Sri Lanka from 1658 to 1796, about 150 years.

The Arrival of British in 1796 AD

After the Dutch in 1815AD, British captured the Kanadiyan Kingdom of Ceylon. They defeat king Rajasinha  the last king of Kandy. British governors were appointed and from the years of 1798 British took the control of the whole country.

The most remarkable different was made by British to the social, economical,and political environment is totally different from which was in here during the Sinhalese kings. They made a ruling system, trading system, religion and legal system. They planted tea , rubber, and coconut as the main crop in hill country and also the many parts of the island.

From year 1798 to 1948 the British rule was in Sri Lanka, but after the year 1948-Feb-4  Sri Lanka gains Independence as a separate country.

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Reservoirs in Sri Lanka

When going to the history of Sri lanka we can see that most of the people have engaged in agriculture. So sri lanka as a agricultural country there have been a vast irrigation system from the ancient rimes. The effective irrigation system has helped the people of Sri Lanka to develop their crops to the maximum level in South Asia in ancient times.

Basawakkulama Tank (Abahaya Weva)

Village & Temple Weva & Dagaba is a old saying that comes from the ancient times of Sri Lankan history.Basawakkulama tank or Abahaya weva is the first tank of sri Lanka that was build by King Pandukababaya in  437-367 BC in 4th century BC in Anuradapura which was the capital of Sri Lanka at the time of his reign.This the beginning of irrigation system in Sri Lanka.  The over view of Swarnamali Maha Chithiya add beauty to the the tank.Abahaya  weva proves that ancient people of Sri Lanka has a heritage more than 3000 years of irrigation technique.This tank hold a capacity of 174 hectares of water. The bunt is about 3900 feet length and 15.5 feet in average depth. Key role that it was built in ancient times is to provide water to pilgrims and the citizens.Most of the people that visit Anuradapura used to have a bath from this tank. The main treats that it has is the pollution of water due to the huge amount of people bathing in the tank.

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Parakramabahu Samudra

Parakramabahu Samudra or the ocean of the land is the name which is given to the tank  The waves of the tank used to hit the bank when there is wind.This is one of the exciting creation of Anuradapura era. The tank was build by King Parakkramabahu a great king of of Sri Lanka  who ruled in 1153 AD-1186AD. He was  a great king of Sri Lankan  history who does a great services to the agriculture.Parakamabahu Samudra is build up by six tanks joined together.  Topa weva, Eramadu weva, Dabulu weva, Kalahagalawva, Boo weva,and Badi weva are the tanks that joined together. The lenght of the bunt is about 8  miles,, nowadays it is about 15 miles in length. The height of the bunt is about 40 feet. The capacity of  109 000acres of feet and the area of catchment area  is about 2800 sq miles. The main process that it does is the providing of water to the thousand acres of land for cultivation. It issues three sluices to the irrigable area. The three canals provide water to the 20 000 acres for cultivation.

Tissa weva

Tissa wewa covers 160 hectares in southeren  of Anuradapura this the southern tank of the city. history says that this tank was build by the King Devamampiyatissa in 3rd century. The area of coverage is about 550 acres.The length of dam is about 2645m and height of the dam is about 6.4 m. Most of the fields in the area get later for their fields through this tank. We can see inland fishing is done in these areas and the flowers that bloom in these tanks are plucked to sell near populated religious places in Anuradapura.

 Inginimitiya Reservoir

This reservoir has been built about 4.88 km across the Mee Oya in  Inginimitiya and it  is situated about 110 miles from Colombo .The idea was commenced on 14-03-1987 and opened on 25-03-1985.  This had been the most successful reservoir in Sri Lanka. It covers an area of 150 sq miles. This dam is considered as the long dam in Sri Lankan irrigation systems. Mr Henry Parker an irrigation engineer who plan to build this to uplift the economy condition of the people who depend upon agriculture. It provide water for 6539 acres land for agriculture and about 4600 acres of land that is newly cultivated. Most of the people"s main living is depend upon the agriculture so about 500  families and the land area of 2200 acres which is belong to the families ,depend upon the water that is provided by this water body.There about  9 villages that have expanded their dwelling and agriculture by the most successful irrigation method that the tank provides.

Puttalm is a dry remote area that is less provided by water so the people of this area considered this water resource as the God of   Inginimitiya. because the smile of the faces of the people depend upon this  water body. The agricultural process has made people to uplift their economic condition.

Senanayaka Samudhraya

Gal Oya multi purpose project is one of the main irrigation project which started in year 1949 and ended in 1953. The name Sennanayaka Samudra is the name of the  first prime minister after the independence. It is amazing to say that during the excavations  archaeologist find evidence of ancient ruins of lake that  has been build in ancient times. The most exiting thing is that there has found a ruins of a dam exactly the same place which is planned to build  the dam by today  engineers. It proves that there has been a keen irrigation technology in Sri Lankan history. When compared to the other reservoirs in Sri Lanka this the dam that is most successful, because no considerable leakage is found.
The location of this dam is in the foot of Inginyagala mountains, and the nearby cities are Siyabalaanduva and Ampara.

The area that this lake covers is 384sq miles. Dam is about 3600 feet in length.and 140 feet in height.  The capacity of this tank is about 770 000 acres capacity of water. Gal Oya multi purpose project generate electricity by using a pen-stock of that has 714 feet length and 10 feet diameter. Four generators are used that generate capacity of electricity is 4 megawatts.(1 kW).

Other than the production of electricity it provide hand to uplift the economic condition of the population in the area.Water for 120 000 lands in eastern province is cultivated by this tank. It also provide advantages for the aquaculture in fresh water.
The canal ways runs to right and left. The right canal way is 32miles in length and the left canal way is 22 miles in length. There has been many advantages by the building of this tank , it is that it controls the flood of the Gal Oya.

Rantabe Tank

This is considered as the smallest tank in Sri Lanka that is made across the Uma Oya and also a project of Mahawali development project. It is 3 km downstream from the Randanigala dam. The main water supply to this tank is Uma Oya. The catchment area of this reservoir is 1095 sq km. the length of the dam is 420 m and the height of the dam is 0.20m. The gross storage capacity of the dam is about 21.00MCM. The production of electricity is done by two francis types of generators, which generates 180 GWh. 

Laxshapana Reservoir

  

Laxshapana which is build across the Maskeliya Oya and a tributary to the Kalani Gaga. the most easiest way to go to the reservoir is the Haton - Maskeliya road.It is about 18 km from Hatton.  The villages as Laxshapana, Patharana, Kiriwaneliya, Muruthatenna, Kotahena Hunugala and Ballungala are the surrounded villages.This tank has the catchment area of 20 sq km. the length of the dam is about 137.2m and

 the height is about29.6m. the capacity of the dam is about 596.6 million cubic meters. The electricity is build in Polpitiya Samanala power station.

Kotmale Reservoir

Upper Kotmale hydro power project is also a part of Mahaweli power project.  which is located in between Talawakele and Nu

Nuwara Eliya in central hill country. This is considered as the third largest hydro power  project in Sri Lanka that holds 800 000 cubic meters in capacity.The cost for cons

truction of this project is 44 billion. The management is done by the Ceylon electric Board. The funds for this project is provided by Japan.  This is considered as the first hydro power station in Sri Lanka. Kotmale power station is situated in upstream of Mahaweli river which has the catchment area of 561 sq km. The length of the dam is about 600m and the

height is about 87m. The capacity of the the tank is about 174 million cubic meters.The capacity of spillover is 3000 cubic meters per second.  The main objective of the this

project is to generate hydro electricity and control of flood.  

Most of the area is

cultivated by the water from the dam. Main plantation of the people in these area is tea plantation. Due to the tunneling has effected many people. So relocation of people has been done. Many villages has been covered by the water so the people in these area has to be moved to different places and to provide them the  housing and many other facilities. and the tunneling has caused the water to flow underground other than flowing on surface.The st Clair's falls which is located downstream the Kotmale plant has a great impact , it says that the flowing of St Clair's fall will stop in future as side effect of Kotmale power project.


Samanlala wewa Reservoir

Samanala weva is considered as the second largest hydro power project in Sri Lanka , which is located in Sabaragamuva district. Nearby cities are Balangoda and Belihuloya. . It takes about 1 hour to drive from Balangoda to Samanala weva dam and it is about 160 km from Colombo.

style="font-size: small;">The location of this dam is about 400 m from sea level. Samanalaweva is located in Uda Walawe basin crossing  the Walawe river.  Uda Walawe is the second largest forest in Sri Lanka.

The construction of this dam was commenced in 1992, for the main purpose of producing the hydro electricity for the main electric board. The financing for this project is done by Japan and UK.
Sir Alexander and Gibbs and partners does the constructions of  project.

The estimated  cost project for this project was 60 176 million but due to the leakage it increased to  174 313 million yen. Samanala weva dam is about 110 m height and 530m in length. This dam holds capacity of 4 500 000cubic meters. This area gets annual rainfall is about 2867mm. This dam consists of three gates each 14 m height and 11 m wide. The amount of water discharge is about 3600 cubic meters per second
the diameter  of the tunnels is 4.5 m .The total capacity of the dam is about 218 000 000cubic meters. The turbine that has used for the generation is of Fancis  turbine type. The main control of this dam is done by the Ceylon electricity Board. The annual generation is that is added to the main electricity board is  405 GWh.

As the other dams of world  This construction also has many side effects for the environment. The farm lands that has been fertilized by Walawe  river water has decreased. but due to the leak there is a certain amount of supply of water. there had been a fast development in this area during a little time period. Sabaragamuva University is a good example.
 

Victoria Dam

Victoria dam is a arc type of dam which is located in upstream of Mahawali River. The nearby city is Teldaniya, it about 6 km from Teldaniya. This dam is the largest hydro power plant in Sri Lanka, which was commenced on 1978 and it was ended by President Jawardana in 1985 April. Victoria dam was constructed under Mahawali development program.
Mahaweli development project is the large development project that was conducted in Sri Lanka during 1980's. the main purpose of this project is to uplift the economic condition of the people in Anuradapura area who suffers from less water for cultivation. Due to development of this program it uplift the economic condition of the people. The vast area of land that cannot be cultivated increased their cultivation due to this project. 
 

The height of the dam is 122m and the length is about 520 m.the surface area of the tank is 22.7 km area. The gross capacity that it hold is  722 000 000 cubic meters.the dam is fee to the powerhouse a 5646m long tunnel that has three pen-stocks of 6.2 m in diameter. Each pen-stock is feed by net head of 190m  to the three turbines. that each can generate 7MW or 12kW. Victoria powerhouse adds 780GWh of electricity annually.8 spillovers which automatically opens when the water level increases, the maximum discharge level is 8200 cubic meters per second.

 

 



 

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