142 Account of the Irrigation Works of 



The explorers of the Ellahara Canal, were, however, the 

 first who declared their belief, that the series of Tanks con- 

 nected by this canal were the waters which bore the name of 

 " the Sea of Prakrama." 



It does not however appear, that this opinion is corrobo- 

 rated by the Maha Wanso, since in a passage in the 68th 

 chapter, mention is made of a particular tank, which was 

 afterwards called the " Sea of Prakrama" 



The passage alluded to is the following. 



Atiwa Khuddakan pubbe " Pandawdpin" cha kariya. 

 Sanwaddhituchchatayama wittha ratthira palikan, 

 Abbhunnata mahawaripatan sajala niggaman, 

 "Parakkama samuddoti," woharancha bhiropayi. 

 " Moreover having made Panda Wapi (Panda tank) which was formerly 

 very small indeed, (into one) containing a body of water great and ex- 

 ceedingly lofty, having outlets for the water, and an embankment of 

 greatly increased height, length, breadth, and strength, — he gave it the 

 name of the ' Sea of Parakkama.' " * 



I am not prepared to say what particular tank is meant by 



* [It is somewhat remarkable that the above important passage in the Maha Wanso 

 should have escaped Mr. Tumour's researches, since he gives the following account of 

 the outlets from the " Sea of Prakrama/' which is quoted by the authors of the Report 

 of the Ellahara Canal. " The king [Prakrama] formed the deep canal called the 

 Makara Ganga, which flowed from the Makara outlet of the sea of Prakrama : from 

 the same sea, the great canal Haima Wattee flowing to the Maha-Maigee-Wame. 

 From the outlet called Samanmal, the canal distinguished by the name of Neela- 

 Wapane : flowing from the outlet called the Keela-Kara Oodyaane, the Salalawatte 

 Canal : flowing from the outlet celebrated under the name of Waitra-Watee, the 

 Waitra-Watee Great Canal : from the southern outlet, the Toongha-badsa Canal : 

 flowing from the Mangala outlet, the Mangala Ganga Canal : flowing from the eastern 

 outlet, the Champua Canal : flowing from the same sea to the Poornawardhana Tank, 

 the Saraswasttee Canal : flowing westward of that (Saraswastee) canal, the Waima- 

 wattee Canal.' 7 No less than ten outlets are here enumerated, as formed by the king 

 to convey, in different directions, the accumulated waters of the tank named after 

 himself. Of these, four appear from their names and description to have been much 

 larger than the rest. The identification of the Sea of Prakrama, therefore, seems to de- 

 pend upon the discovery, in Padivel Colum, or any oilier of the large tanks, of ten out- 

 lets corresponding with those mentioned in the above extract.— -Ed. Ceylon Almanac- 

 1857, in which work this article was by permission inserted.] 



