Yoda Ela (Giant Canal) or Jaya Ganga, an long single banking water canal carrying excess water to
Tissa Wewa reservoir 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 spi ...
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 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 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 Englis ...
.
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
The Kala Oya is the third longest river in Sri Lanka. It is approximately in length. The river has a basin size of , and more than 400,000 rural population live by the river basin.
Its catchment area receives approximately 3,169 million cubic me ...
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 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
See also
* Abhayavapi
Abhaya Wewa (Sinhalese: ), historically Abhayavapi (Sinhalese: ) or Bassawak reservoir, is a reservoir in Sri Lanka, built by King Pandukabhaya who ruled in Anuradhapura from 437 BC to 367 BC, after constructing the city.
It was constructed in ...
* 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 th ...
* 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 spi ...
* Nachchaduwa wewa
* Parakramabahu I
* Tissa Wewa (Anuradhapura)
Tissa Wewa, an artificial reservoir, was built by Devanampiya Tissa (3rd century BC) in order to increase the water supply to his capital city of Anuradhapura. Only Panda Wewa (5th century BC) and Abhaya Wewa (5th-4th century BC) are older. The ...
* 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