වැළලී ගිය වාරි උරුමය - පඬා වැව | In search for the Lost Great Reservoir of Sri Lanka - Panda Wewa

පුරාණ පඬුවස්නුවර රාජධානිය අසල පිහිටි, අපට අහිමි වී අතීතයට එක් වුන පඬා වැව සොයා ගිය ගමන.

19 නව සියවස් අගභාගයේදී ලංකාවේ අඩපණව පැවති පුරාණ වාරිකර්මාන්ත නැවත පණගැන්වීමට මහත් මෙහෙයක් සිදු කළ බ්‍රිතාන්ය ජාතික ඉන්ජිනේරු හෙන්රි පාකර් මහතා 1909 වසරේදී පළකළ Ancient Ceylon නම් කෘතියේ මෙම වාරිකර්මාන්තය ගැන සටහන් කර ඇත. ඔහු එම කෘතියේ සටහන් කර ඇති ආකාරයට පඬා වැව යනු ලොව පැරණිම අංග සම්පූර්ණ වැව විය හැකි බවට ඔහු අනුමාන කර ඇත.

Although no direct mention has been found in the ancient texts which could be used to find the origins of the reservoir, this is believed to be the tank built by King Panduwasdeva (504-474 BC) in 450 BC for irrigation as well as for daily use by the citizens of Panduwasnuwara. This has been built damming the Kolamunu Oya (කොළ¬මුණ ඔය) which has been called Kolabinna Nadee (කොළ¬ඹින්න නදී) in the ancient past. This reservoir has been also called Panda Wapi (පාණ්ඩ¬වා¬පි) and Paanda Wewa (පාණ්ඩ වැව) during various times in the past.

Chulawamsa describes Parakramabahu I expanding the Pandu Wewa by daming the Kolamunu Oya and renaming it as Parakrama Samudraya. This was done before he was consecrated as the king and after he built the massive Parakrama Samudraya in Polonnaruwa, Panda wewa was called Bena Samudraya (බෑන සමුද්‍රය). However the name Panda Wewa was the name used by the common man throughout the period.

The 14th century manuscript “Pradhana Nuwarawal” provides a detail description of the city built by King Panduwasdeva along with the tank which he built. H. Parker, in his publication “Ancient Ceylon” in 1909, believes that may be the first great reservoir ever constructed, if we omit from consideration the great lakes of Egypt, since they were merely immense natural hollows into which water was turned.
Also he shows his amazement of ancient irrigation engineers ability to control such a large volume of water the ability to build such a large dam as early as 5th Century BC.

. . . . . The histories contain almost no information regarding this reservoir They state that King Dappula II (807-812, AD) built a hospital there, ‘with a fruitful village attached thereto’ for its support. (Mah,. ii p. 57); and it also appears to be mentioned in the same work under the name Setthivapi, the Hetti(pola) tank,’ as one of the reservoirs repaired by Parakarama-Bahu I (1164-1197 AD). King Nissanka-Malla (1198-1207) left a record of this restoration in an inscription of four lines cut on a stone at the outlet of the low level sluice. Perhaps the work was only completed in his reign...

According to Brohier, the tank was being used use until 19th century ( for over 2300 years) until the bund was breached after a heavy rainy season in 1805.

Check 1st comment for What's mentioned about the Panda wewa on Ancient Ceylon by Henry Parker

Sources :
Ancient Ceylon by By Henry Parker published in 1909
පුරාණ පඬාවැවෙන් හෙළිවන ශ්‍රී ලාංකේය වාරි තාක්‍ෂණය by M.R.T Dharmasiri, published in 2016
පඬුවස්නුවර සහ වයඹ රාජධානි by Piyathilaka Halpe, published in 2011
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