Abstract:
This brief paper deals with analyzing the function of the bissokotuwa a structure
found in ancient vewas (water reservoir) in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka has one of the most
glorious ancient irrigation systems in the world. Ancient Sri Lanka boasts a
distinguished hydraulic civilization. The technology used to construct the irrigation
system of Sri Lanka is unmatched, also fascinated and acclaimed by present
irrigation engineers. The irrigation works in ancient Sri Lanka, in the reign
of King Pandukabhaya (about 300 BC) and under continuous development for the
next thousand years, were some of the most complex irrigation systems of
the ancient world. In addition to constructing underground canals, Ancient Sri
Lankans were among the first to build completely artificial reservoirs to
store water. The ‘vewa’ (irrigation tank) and the lives of ancient villagers were and
still are inherently, interconnected. If there wasn’t a vewa to be seen in a particular
area there was neither a paddy field nor a village in the region. The function of the
sluice in a vewa too was extraordinary.’. This research is focused on one of the most
important components of water reservoir called ‘bissokotuwa’. Unlike typical
reservoirs, the sluice in a vewa functioned together with a unique device known as
the ‘bissokotuwa’. There was made an effort to identify the birth of bissokotuwa
component, importance and the role of bissokotuwa in the irrigation process,
technical knowledge behind the structural background of bissokotuwa and the
environmental knowledge of ancient people of Sri Lanka. This research has mainly
done by using secondary sources.
