The vast water reservoir was built by King Parakramabahu (1153-1186) and today what you see as the Parakrama Samudraya is only a portion of his original creation.
Parakrama Samudraya originally consisted of five large reservoirs separated by smaller dams to reduce the pressure on the main dam. Many smaller tanks has been built around the main tank to feed these primary tanks and to take excess water.
The main five reservoirs which consist of the Parakrama Samudraya are
- Thopa Vawa
- Eramudu Vewa (Katu Vewa)
- Dumbuthulu Vewa
- Kalahagala Vewa
- Bhu Vewa
During reconstruction of the Parakrama Samudraya, the water which was supposed to come to the Thopa Vawa has started flowing to the Bhu Vewa. Then the engineers constructed a temporary dam to block the water flowing to the Bhu Vewa. This temporary wall then became a permanent road and this road isolated Kalahagala Vewa and Bhu Vewa from the Parakrama Samudraya. The new reconstruction process has ignored most of the ancient technology which this tank was built in reducing the capacity of the tank further.
As at today, the dam of Parakrama Samudraya is 8 ½ miles (14 kilometres) in length and 40 feet (12.2 metres) in height. The body of water covers 5350 acres with an average depth of 25 feet. Over 18000 acres of paddy land is supported by this reservoir.
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