Parakrama Samudraya

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

1. Thopa Vawa
2. Eramudu Vewa (Katu Vewa)
3. Dumbuthulu Vewa
4. Kalahagala Vewa
5. 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.

Weijantha Prasada

This is a majestic palace build by king Parakramabahu with seven stories and said to have 1000 chambers. Although the main building possibly couldn’t hold such a number of chambers, when you consider the whole palace complex it is thought that this number is a possibility.

Today you can see the massive walls over a metre thick going upto about 30 feet (9 metres) and the bottom half of the main stairway which led to upper floors. Inside the building you can see parts of melted brick walls caused by intense heat when this was set fire by Tamil invaders at the end of Polonnaruwa era. Around the main palace there are remains of more buildings where the ministers, solders and servants lived.

Large holes in the wall probably held massive wooden structures that formed the floor of the upper levels.
Even after facing such destruction by human hand and then by Mother Nature for 800 years, the plastering on these walls still remains in some places.

An architect’s impression of what it would have looked can be seen at the Polonnaruwa museum in a form of miniature model.

Polonnaruwa History

While Vijayabahu's victory and shifting of Kingdoms to the more strategic Polonnaruwa is considered significant, the real Polonnaruwa Hero of the history books is actually his grandson, Parakramabahu I. It was his reign that is considered the Golden Age of Polonnaruwa, when trade and agriculture flourished under the patronage of the King, who was adamant that no drop of water falling from the heavens was to be wasted, and each be used toward the development of the land; hence, irrigation systems far superior to those of the Anuradhapura Age were constructed during Parakramabahu's reign, systems which to this day supply the water necessary for paddy cultivation during the scorching dry season in the east of the country. The greatest of these systems, of course is the Parakrama Samudraya or the Sea of Parakrama, a tank so vast that it is often mistaken for the ocean. It is of such a width that it is impossible to stand upon one shore and view the other side, and it encircles the main city like a ribbon, being both a defensive border against intruders and the lifeline of the people in times of peace. The Kingdom of Polonnaruwa was completely self-sufficient during King Parakramabahu's reign.

However, with the exception of his immediate successor, Nissankamalla I, all other monarchs of Polonnaruwa, were slightly weak-willed and rather prone to picking fights within their own court. They also went on to form more intimiate matrimonial alliances with stronger South Indian Kingdoms, until these matrimonial links superseded the local royal lineage and gave rise to the Kalinga invasion by King Magha in 1214 and the eventual passing of power into the hands of a Pandyan King following the Arya Chakrawarthi invasion of Sri Lanka in 1284. The capital was then shifted to Dambadeniya.The city Polonnaruwa was also called as Jananathamangalam during the short Chola reign.