Yoda Ela (Giant Canal) or Jaya Ganga, an long single banking water canal carrying excess water to Tissa Wewa

reservoir A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including control ...

from Kala Wewa reservoir in

Anuradhapura Anuradhapura ( si, අනුරාධපුරය, translit=Anurādhapuraya; ta, அனுராதபுரம், translit=Aṉurātapuram) is a major city located in north central plain of Sri Lanka. It is the capital city of North Central P ...

. The Yodha Ela is known for achieving a rather low gradient for its time. The

gradient In vector calculus, the gradient of a scalar-valued differentiable function of several variables is the vector field (or vector-valued function) \nabla f whose value at a point p is the "direction and rate of fastest increase". If the gr ...

is about 10

centimetres 330px, Different lengths as in respect to the Electromagnetic spectrum, measured by the Metre and its deriveds scales. The Microwave are in-between 1 meter to 1 millimeter. A centimetre (international spelling) or centimeter (American spellin ...

per

kilometre The kilometre ( SI symbol: km; or ), spelt kilometer in American English, is a unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), equal to one thousand metres ( kilo- being the SI prefix for ). It is now the measurement unit used for ...

or 6

inches Measuring tape with inches The inch (symbol: in or ″) is a unit of length in the British imperial and the United States customary systems of measurement. It is equal to yard or of a foot. Derived from the Roman uncia ("twelft ...

per

mile The mile, sometimes the international mile or statute mile to distinguish it from other miles, is a British imperial unit and United States customary unit of distance; both are based on the older English unit of length equal to 5,280 Engli ...

Construction

Yodha Ela was constructed during King Dathusena's reign in 459 AD. It is long. It is a trans-basin diversion canal transferring water from Kala Oya Basin to

Malwathu Oya The Malwathu Oya ( si, මල්වතු ඔය Malwathu Oya, ta, அருவி ஆறு Aruvi Aru), at long, is the second longest river in Sri Lanka. The river originates in the North Central Province of Sri Lanka and enters the sea on ...

Basin. It has a gradient of the order of drop along . Even with modern day survey equipment it would be difficult to achieve such accuracy. Yodha Ela not only feeds Tissa Wewa, but also the nearby Abhaya Wewa and Nuwara Wewa. A separate branch of the canal has then already brought water to the

Nachchaduwa wewa Nachchaduwa wewa (Also known as Mahadaragala Reservoir) is a reservoir near Thammannakulama, Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-st ...

.Kala Wewa and Yodha Ela (Jaya Ganga) - An irrigation wonder of Ancient Sinhalese
AmazingLanka.com, retrieved 28 January 2022 King Parakramabahu who reigned the country from 1153 to 1186, expanded the area that contributed to the water in the canal by connecting more reservoirs to the network between Kala Wawa and Thissa Wawa. He then renamed it Jaya Ganga (River of Victory).

Functions

Yodha Ela functions in a way of a moving reservoir because of its single banking aspect which is different from the present day double banking

irrigation canals Irrigation (also referred to as watering) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops, landscape plants, and lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years and has been develo ...

'. It feeds water in an area of feeding of paddy lands and 120 small tanks on its way from Kala Wewa to Tissa Wewa

References

{{coord, 8, 01, N, 80, 31, E, region:LK_type:city, display=title Bodies of water of Anuradhapura District Canals in Sri Lanka

Construction

Functions

See also

References