Basawakkulama tank (Abhaya Wewa)
Embalse de Basawakkulama (Abhaya Wewa)
- Date
- c. century IV a.C. · confidence low
- Place
- Anuradhapura, North Central Province, Sri Lanka
- Credited to
- King Pandukabhaya (according to the Mahavamsa)
- Field
- Tools
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
Sri Lanka's first great tank (wewa), an earthen reservoir that stored monsoon water to irrigate rice paddies during the dry season. It launched the island's dry-zone hydraulic civilisation.
The attribution and date come from the Mahavamsa chronicle (6th century CE); archaeology confirms urban occupation at Anuradhapura from c. 500 BCE.
What it led to
- rice irrigation in Sri Lanka's dry zone
- networks of cascading, interconnected tanks