No. 9. — 1856-8.] IRRIGATION WORKS OF PABAKRAMA B.A.EXJ. 127 



It does not, however, appear that this opinion is corroborated 

 by the Mahawanso, since in a passage in the 68th chapter, 

 mention is made of a particular tank, which was afterwards 

 called the " Sea of Parakrama." 



The passage alluded to is the following 



Atiwa khuddakan pubbe Pandawapincha kariya. 

 Sa^waddhituchchatayama wittharatthira palikan, 

 Abbhunnata mahawaripatan sajala niggarnau, 

 Parakkama samuddoti, woharanchabhiropayi. 



" Moreover, having made Pcwda-tvapP (Panda tank), which was 

 formerly very small indeed, (into one) containing a body of water 

 great and exceedingly 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 Parakrama.' " * 



[It is somewhat remarkable that the above important passage in the 

 Mahawagso should have escaped Mr. Tumour's researches, since he gives 

 the following account of the outlets from the " Sea of Parakrama," which 

 is quoted by the authors of the Report of the Ellahara Canal. " The 

 King [Parakrama] formed the deep canal called the Makara-gapga, which 

 flowed from the Makara outlet of the sea of Parakrama ; from the same 

 sea, the great canal Hema-wati flowing to the Maha-megha-wana. 

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

 Nila-wana : flowing from the outlet called the Kila-karu-udyana 

 the Salalawatti Canal : flowing from the outlet celebrated under the 

 name of Waitra-wati, the Waitra-wati Great Canal : from the south- 

 ern outlet, the Turjga-badsa Canal : flowing from the Mapgala outlet, 

 the Mangala-ganga Canal flowing from the eastern outlet, the Champa 

 Canal ; flowing from the same sea to the Piirnawardhana Tank, the 

 Saraswati Canal : flowing westward of that (Saraswati) canal, the 

 Wenumati Canal." No less than ten outlets are here enumerated, as 

 foi'med 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 Parakrama," therefore, seems to depend upon 

 the discovery, in Padavil-kulam, or any other of the large tanks, of ten 



outlets corresponding with those mentioned in the above extract. 



Ed. Ceylon Almanac, 1857, in which work this article was by 

 I permission inserted. \ 



