Tissa Wewa, an artificial reservoir, was built by

Devanampiya Tissa Tissa, later Devanampiya Tissa, was one of the earliest kings of Sri Lanka based at the ancient capital of Anuradhapura from 247 BC to 207 BC. His reign was notable for the arrival of Buddhism in Sri Lanka under the aegis of the Mauryan ...

(3rd century BC) in order to increase the water supply to his capital city of

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 ...

. Only Panda Wewa (5th century BC) and Abhaya Wewa (5th-4th century BC) are older. The embankment of Tissa Wewa is long and high. Among other uses, the reservoir supplied water to Tissa's Royal Gardens. In later centuries, Tissa Wewa and the other lakes were enlarged and integrated into a regional network of

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 ...

.W. I. Siriweera, History of Sri Lanka, Dayawansa Jayakodi & Company, 2004, pp. 168-170.

References

{{SriLanka-geo-stub Reservoirs in Sri Lanka Anuradhapura Lakes of Sri Lanka