5/5 Kavindu T. 1 year ago on Google
This
gigantic
man-made
pond
called
“Eth
Pokuna”
or
“Elephant
Pond”
is
situated
close
to
Lankaramaya
in
Anuradhapura.
This
is
a
rectangular
pond,
159
meters
in
length
52.7
meters
across
and
9.5
meters
in-depth
with
the
holding
capacity
of
75,000
cubic
meters
of
water.
Eth
Pokuna
literary
means
“The
Elephant
Pond”
due
its
scale.
This
is
part
of
the
landscape
of
the
massive
Abhayagriya
monastery
spreading
over
500
acres.
The
tank
is
made
out
of
large
stone
blocks
stacked
at
an
angle
at
the
walls.
There
3
sets
of
stairs
to
the
bottom,
in
south,
north
and
eastern
sides.
The
bottom
is
not
paved.
It
is
not
know
how
the
name
came
to
been
but
possibly
due
its
sheer
size.
H.E
Weerasooriya
records
that
this
pond
was
called
Kuruwe
Wewa”
by
the
locals
in
The
Maha
Bodhi
Vamsa
written
in
12th
century
mentions
two
ponds
in
the
Abhayagriya
monastery
called
Diggal
Vila
and
Masthota
Vila.
It
is
believed
the
Masthota
Vila
is
the
pond
known
as
Eth
Pokuna
today.
The
water
to
this
pond
has
been
supplied
from
the
Periyamkulama
Tank
through
a
network
of
underground
conduits,
and
you
still
can
see
part
of
the
water
lines
made
out
of
stone
blocks.
The
water
is
filtered
through
external
filter
pits
before
the
water
is
fed
to
the
pond.
These
underground
canals
still
work
after
so
many
hundreds
years
and
in
1982
after
a
very
heavy
rainy
season
you
could
see
water
pouring
though
these
inlets
from
the
Periyamkulama
tank.
This
tank
probably
has
been
used
by
the
monks
in
the
Abayagiri
monastery
who
amounted
over
five
thousand
priests.
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