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 contro ...
from
Kala Wewa
Kala Wewa ( Sinhala:කලා වැව) built by the King Datusena in 460 A.D, is a twin reservoir complex (Kala Wewa & Balalu Wewa) which has a capacity of 123 million cubic meters. This reservoir complex has facilitated with a stone made spil ...
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 ...
. 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 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 ("twelfth") ...
per
mile.
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 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.
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 devel ...
'. It feeds water in an area of feeding of paddy lands and 120 small tanks on its way from Kala Wewa to Tissa Wewa
See also
* Abhayavapi
* Dhatusena of Anuradhapura
Dhatusena was a king of Sri Lanka who ruled from 455 to 473 AD. He was the first king of the Moriyan dynasty. In some records, he is also identified as Dasenkeli. Dhatusena reunited the country under his rule after twenty six years, defeating the ...
* Kala Wewa
Kala Wewa ( Sinhala:කලා වැව) built by the King Datusena in 460 A.D, is a twin reservoir complex (Kala Wewa & Balalu Wewa) which has a capacity of 123 million cubic meters. This reservoir complex has facilitated with a stone made spil ...
* Nachchaduwa wewa
* Parakramabahu I
Parākramabāhu I ( Sinhala: මහා පරාක්රමබාහු, 1123–1186), or Parakramabahu the Great, was the king of Polonnaruwa from 1153 to 1186. He oversaw the expansion and beautification of his capital, constructed extensiv ...
* Tissa Wewa (Anuradhapura)
* Tank cascade system
References
{{coord, 8, 01, N, 80, 31, E, region:LK_type:city, display=title
Bodies of water of Anuradhapura District
Canals in Sri Lanka