The Minneriya Tank

The Minneriya Tank was built by the great tank builder, King Mahasena (276-303 CE), who ruled in Anuradhapura. This tank occupied 4670 acres, and its strong 13-meter tall Dam running along with a distance of 2k held over 20 billion gallons of water. The water arrived from Mahaweli River, 48 km away, along the Elahera canal built by King Wasabha (65-109 CE) before his time.

This, along with other reservoirs, created an irrigation paradise in the east. It was this growth in agriculture that opened up the massive trade with South East Asia through the Trincomalee harbour; from then onwards, Trincomalee harbour became one of the busiest in the region.

In 1820 CE, British Inland Revenue Officer Ralf Bachaus recorded that the whole area can be irrigated if this reservoir is restored. In 1856 CE, British Governor Henry Ward recorded that it must have been an amazing reservoir that had been built very Strong. They recorded the beauty of the vegetation, the wildlife which surrounded the reservoir.

The Mahavamsa, The great chronicle of Sri Lanka, states that Mahasen constructed sixteen large tanks and two irrigation canals. The largest among these is the Minneriya tank, about which Henry Ward, a governor of Sri Lanka when it was a British crown colony, had stated.

No wisdom and no power in the ruler can have forced such efforts even upon the most passive oriental nations, without general persuasion that the work was one of paramount necessity and that all would participate in its benefits.......

The waters from this tank changed the landscape of Minneriya so much, when Mahasen passed away, he was deified by people in Minneriya, popularly known as 'Minneri Deviyo' or 'Mahasen Deviyo', and a Devale dedicated to him still survives on the Dam of Minneriya Tank.

(Heritage Lanka by Neil Kiriella 2017, P:214)

Unique Sri Lanka

Minneriya Wewa Reservoir

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