Nuwara Wewa of the Ancient Anuradhapura Kingdom

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Sun setting over Nuwara Wewa of Anuradhapura
photograph by Clem.C licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Nuwara Wewa is the largest of the three man made reservoirs in Anuradhapura The other two are Basawakkulama ( Abaya Wewa) and the Tissa wewa. Nuwara Wewa is believed to be built by King Vattagamini Abaya popularly known as King Valagamba in the first century BC.

According to H. Parker in Ancient Ceylon (1909), based on the size of bricks used which is similar to bricks in Abayagiriya Stupa, the tank was built in the first 20 years of the 1st century BC. Based on the bricks again, he believes that repairs were made to the tank in the 3rd Century and again in the 5th Century

The Embankment (Bund) is 3 miles long and 37 feet high. The water height ia about 23 feet the tank covers 3180 hectares and contains about 1500 million cubit feet of water. There has been a dam built across Malwathu Oya to divert water to the Nuwara Wewa. The Dam has been 33 feet wide, 160 feet long and 8 feet high and built with large solid rocks. In 1873 nearly all these rocks has been removed to be used to erect a road bridge across the river.

From the Dam a 40 feet wide channel has been cut to bring the water to the Nuwara Wewa. The water depth of the canal is about 4 feet and at about 150 feet from the Dam, a flood escape was found to divert the excess water back to the river.

Plan and Section of Nuwara Wewa low level and high level slices
Source : H. Parker – Ancient Ceylon (1909)

Primary Sources : www.mahaweli.gov.lk
mahavamsa.org

Also See

Anuradhapura – The city of the God Kings

Map of the Nuwara Wewa

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Traveling to Nuwara Wewa

Anuradhapura can be reached through many routes from Colombo. The two main routes are through Puttalam (Puttalama) and though Kurunegala. Traveling from Puttalam you will pass scenic Wilpattu area. the From Kurunegala there are two main routes to Anuradhapura. The most common route is through Dambulla. The other route is though Galgamuwa. Out of all the routes, the commonly used is the Kurunegala – Dambulla route (Route 2).

Route 01 from Colombo to Anuradhapura	Route 02 from Colombo to Anuradhapura
Through : Negombo – Chillaw – Puttalam Distance from Colombo :213 km Travel time : 4.30- 5.00 hours Driving directions : see on google map	Through : Ambepussa – Kurunegala – Dambulla Distance from Colombo : 217 km Travel time : 4.30- 5.00 hours Driving Directions : see on google maps
Route 03 from Colombo to Anuradhapura	Route from Kandy to Anuradhapura
Through : Ambepussa – Kurunegala – Padeniya – Thambuthegama Distance from Colombo :210 km Travel time : 4.30- 5.00 hours Driving directions : see on google map	Through : Katugastota – Matale – Dambulla Distance from Colombo :136 km Travel time : 3 hours Driving directions : see on google map