The Tissa Wewa

The Tissa Wewa is said to have been build by King Tissa in about 240B.C., but the tank may be even older than that. It covers an area of 450 acres (210 hectares) and is fed by a masterpiece of engineering. The Jaya river, a channel dating to the reign of King Dathusena (C. 459A.D.) which brings water 54miles (90km) from the Kala wewa, a giant tank, to the Tissa wewa. It feeds more than 70 tanks on the way, and for the first 20 miles(32km) the gradient is less than half and inch per mile, an extraordinary feat, that European engineers were not able to emulate until some years after Newton has published his ‘Principles of Gravity’ in 1742 A.D.

The Tank was built in order to provide water for the town and the surrounding agricultural area. Piped water systems came in to use in Anuradhapura in the first century A.D. , and water for irrigation was drawn off the tank by sluices.

The area to the east of the Tissa wewa was given over to the Royal Pleasure Gardens and to the rock monasteries and temples of the ‘Isurumuniya’ and Vessagiri. The land would have been cultivated in much the same way as it is today; the landscape is probably little changed, with the thatched roofs of the farmer’s houses standing amongst the paddy fields. The bund of the tank is always cool, and is a favorite place for people to watch the sunset over the water.