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A glimpse of the glorious past and marvelous water management skills exhibited by the civilization
W hen discussing about Yodha Ela in
Sri Lanka, there are at least four of
them well known, namely the Kalawewa
Yodha Ela (KYE) which is also known as
the Jaya Ganga, the Elahera-Minneriya
Yodha Ela (EMYE), the Minneriya-
Kantale Yodha Ela (MKYE) and the
Minipe Yodha Ela (MYE) that comes to
my mind.
The Irrigation Civilization of Ancient
Lanka
From ancient times, Sri Lanka had been
enjoying the facility of irrigated agriculture
through the regular supplies of monsoonal
rainfall of the earth’s equatorial belt. In
Lanka or Ceylon as the British liked to
call it or Sri Lanka as it is now famous, the
beautiful island and civilization of ours,
implementation of the famous ‘One Tank-
One Village Ecology’ and the resultant
'eco friendly sustenance of its agri based
economy' had been very successful for
very many centuries.
In this set up, there is a cluster of homestead
forming a village, and an upstream tank,
which is being utilized to cater for the
cultivation of paddy lots downstream. When
the monsoonal rains come, the water from
its little catchment gets collected and it is
retained at this village tank, and it was quite
This system of ‘One Tank-One Village
Ecology’ was operating in many parts of
the country, and even today if we happened
to take a glance of the ‘one inch to a mile’
Topo Sheets of Sri Lanka, we would notice
the traces and remnants of a large multitude
of such village tanks located mostly around
the dry zone of Sri Lanka.
There were no lengthy canals in these
systems. The water that was allowed to
collect at the upstream village tank was
released to the downstream paddy lots with
a tiny feeder canal if at all, as the irrigable
areas were quite small. In most cases, the
water spilled over from one paddy lot to the
other without a channel. The big irrigation
canals were utilized only if one needed to
take the water to some distant places where
there was a shortage of water, or no water
at all.
Water Resource Management
In Water Resources Development, the Water
Planners and Engineers have the primary
task of matching the available supply of
water with its demand. The supply is the
natural rainfall of the area, and the people
have very little control over it, in spite of
rainmaking.
Generally, the water sources are found
at the headwaters of catchments in the
mountainous areas, while the irrigable areas
are located downstream many miles away.
If the cultivation plots receive the natural
rainfall over its cropping period, then
there is no necessity of irrigation canals. A
good example of this would be the ‘Chena
Cultivations’ that are being practiced in
the Dry Zone of Sri Lanka even now. Very
often, the irrigable areas are located at far
distances, many miles away from where
the heavy rainfalls occur. Around these
irrigable areas, the demand for water exists
in different forms such as
(1) Demand for water at that
particular distant location.
16 DECEMBER 2010 PAHANA - LIGHT & LIFE
YODHA ELA of ANCIENT SRI LANKA
(2)
(3)
Demand for water at the particular
time period of the year.
Demand for water with an assured
reliability to the cultivator.
In order to match these different forms of
demand, with that of the natural rainfall
supply, we need to build dams, reservoirs,
anicuts, barrages, irrigation canals,
aqueducts and pipes etc. The dams and
reservoirs are needed to store-up the water,
the anicuts and barrages are needed to
head-up the water along the river, while
the canals, aqueducts and pipes are needed
to convey the water from one location to
another.
Another important service that the reservoirs
do is the timing and the regulation of the
supplies, where the buffer stocks of excess
water during the rain spells are stored and
released as and when necessary. For the
plant growth, it needs a regular supply
of water over the duration of the crop,
irrespective of whether it is in a drought or
otherwise.
During droughts or dry spells, the Irrigation
Engineers generally adopt various water
rationing techniques. They optimize
the usage of water in irrigation areas by
adopting rotational issues, by minimizing
the farmer wastages and the water leakages
from dykes etc.
Another service that the reservoirs perform
is the provision of reliability of an assured
supply of water to the farmers. For the
farmers to go ahead with the cultivation
of their lands with the land preparations,
spending money for seed paddy, pesticides,
weedicides etc., especially in the Yala
Season (April to September) where there is
an acute shortage of water in the dry zone
of Sri Lanka, the reservoirs do provide a
guaranteed supply to them. The farming
community could see it in real-time that
there is water in the reservoir, even if there
is no more rainfall occurring in the next
few months for their cultivation to proceed.
It is the duty of the Irrigation Engineer to
coordinate all the water issue dates and
activities, and to run through a successful
irrigation crop and reap the best harvest
producing the maximum yields.
Irrigation Tanks
Sri Lanka has a large number of major
reservoirs built during the past, mostly
in the Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa and
Vanni Districts. They were built by the
ancient kings of Sri Lanka, and they have
served the nation for very many centuries.
Basawakkulamawewa in Anuradhapura.
This had been built by King Abhaya who
reigned from (414- 394) BC, as per stone
inscriptions. King Devanampiyatissa,
had built the Tissawewa in Anuradhapura
during his period (247-207) BC. King
Mahasen had built quite a few reservoirs
such as Huruluwewa, Mahakanadarawewa,
Padaviyawewa, Kaudullawewa, and
Minneriyawewa during his period (276-
303) AD. King Dhathusena (459-477 AD)
built the Kalawewa Reservoir, while the
King Parakrama Bahu I (1153-1186 AD)
built the famous Parakrama Samudraya in
Polonnaruwa.
Yodha Ela Concept
The water is conveyed from a reservoir,
through a sluice to the main channel, which
feeds into the distribution channels and
supply to the paddy lots. In the history of
Lanka had operated only for about 160
years the most.
The other “Yodha Ela” is the Elahera-
Sri Lanka, some of these main channels had Minneriya Yodha Ela (EMYE). By
been referred to as “Yodha Ela” meaning constructing an anicut across Amban
‘A Giant Channel’. The reason why they
were referred to as “Yodha Ela” is beyond the EMYE. After about 20.5 miles from
comprehension. the Elahera Anicut along the EMYE, a
Generally, the king would have ordered bifurcation structure has been constructed
his subordinates to construct these main at Diyabeduma. As the name ‘Diyabeduma’
channels running through long distances,
and because of the sheer quantum of work Minneriyawewa and Giritalewewa, and
to be accomplished at that time, without
any known mechanised and automated
machinery to be utilised, this type of construction of this Elahera Canal had been
a construction appeared to have been done by King Vasabha during (65-109)
considered as a massive gigantic task, or AD. King Aggabodhi II who reigned from
a “Yodha Wedak” and thereby they would (608-618) AD is recorded to have improved
have referred to these channels as “Yodha the canal, and extended the supplies to
Ela”. This is just one point of view. Giritalewewa & Minneriyawewa. Later
Another point of view is that because the King Vijaya Bahu (1055- 1110 AD) had
construction work was entrusted to the repaired the canal and improved the works.
so-called “Yodhayas” (Giants) who lived This EMYE had been put into good use,
during the time of the king, those channels by King Parakrama Bahu I, who achieved
could have been referred to as the “Yodha
Ela”. Whatever the nomenclature and during his reign (1153-1186) AD.
identity is, in Sri Lanka we are left over King Aggabodhi II (608-618 AD) who
with at least four “Yodha Ela” in different constructed the Kantalewewa, also
places in the Dry Zone. constructed another “Yodha Ela”. This is
referred to as Minneriya-Kantale Yodha
Historical
Ela (MKYE), and it is conveying water
The Kalawewa Yodha Ela (KYE) was
from Minneriyawewa to Kantalewewa. The
constructed by King Dhathusena. It was
MKYE is 20 miles long and it has been
taking water from Kalawewa Reservoir
built in order to augment the water supply
to Tissawewa Reservoir in Anuradhapura.
to Kantalewewa. This service had been
This 52-mile long canal, also known as the
further extended by supplying the water to
“Jaya Ganga” had been the talking point
another reservoir called Vendarasankulam
of many a people around the world. It was
located near Kantalewewa. Needless to say
not because this was a trans-basin diversion
that all these reservoirs are used essentially
canal transferring water from one basin to
for irrigation purposes.
another, namely from Kala Oya Basin to
The other “Yodha Ela” originates from the
Malwatu Oya Basin, but because of the
Minipe Anicut feeding the Left Bank of
the Mahaweli Ganga. The Minipe Anicut
been constructed. This amazingly mild
across the main Mahaweli Ganga had been
gradient had been found to be of the order
constructed by King Aggabodhi I (575-
of one-foot drop along one-river mile. Even
with the modern day survey equipment
miles of this Minipe Yodha Ela (MYE).
This MYE, which is also known as the
achieve the said accuracy, and all due credit
“Pabbatana Canal”, was further extended to
should go to the ancient canal builders of
a length of 47 miles by King Sena II who
that era.
reigned during (853-887) AD.
Unique Feature
References:
This KYE from Kalawewa to Tissawewa
1. O.A. Gunawardane and R. P.
feeds water to a large number of minor
de Silva, A Short History of Irrigation
tanks on its way. The essential characteristic
Engineering in Sri Lanka up to 2000 AD,
of this canal was that it was running ahead
Open University, Nawala. Sri Lanka, 2002
or upstream these minor tanks while it
feeds them, and it is not running through 2. Palitha Manchanayake & C.M.
MaddumaBandara, Water Resources of
the tanks or across them. As the KYE is a
Sri Lanka, Natural Resources Series No.4,
from the forest cover along its length are National Science Foundation, Colombo, Sri
Lanka, 1999
3. S. Arumugam, Water Resources
addition to the releases from Kalawewa.
of Ceylon its Utilisation and Development
This particular aspect is different from the
present day irrigation channels, as they , A Water Resources Board Publication,
Colombo, Sri Lanka, 1969
are mostly double-banking where only
the releases from the upstream reservoir
are being conveyed down. The modern
irrigation channels could be stated to be
running in isolation when going through its
length of conveyance, where as the ancient
KYE mingles with the environment and
picks up on its way, the natural sub-surface
banking. KYE has existed harmoniously
with the environment functioning for nearly
1500 years, while the modern irrigation Palitha Manchanayake
channels introduced by the British to Sri