Parakrama Samudra

In Sri Lankan history King Parakramabahu had made a huge involvement towards the agricultural industry in the country. Parakarama Samudraya it called as “Sea of Parakrama” was constructed by King Parakramabahu I, grand ruler of Polonnaruwa. The king Parakramabahu great who ruled the kingdom for 33 years from 1153 AD- 1186 AD. He stated, "Not even a drop of water from the rainfall must flow into the ocean without being finished as a valuable to mankind". This is one of the wonderful irrigational jobs in history of Sri Lanka. Water has become the neediest part for the existence of nature, human beings, animals and the plantation. He asked his countrymen to use water carefully. It covers an area of 5,940 acres. It has 11 channels through water and feeding a set of connections of irrigation canals and small size tanks.

The Parakrama Samudra is a huge manmade irrigation and greatest ever contribution to the people of Sri Lanka. Since the cities of ancient Sri Lanka are in the dry northern plains where irregular rainfall, holding on to huge reserves of water becomes an essential.

The building of irrigation reservoirs in Polonnaruwa is not something new. The Parakrama Samudra provides 99 percent of its water to farmers for cultivation over 30,000 paddy lands and the remaining 1% of water for drinking purpose and to expand the fishing industry.

From the Parakrama Samudra, we were able to get pleasure from a panoramic observation of the reservoir, where we saw fishermen in their rowboats and women doing their laundry. The vision itself was a fascinating photograph of a day in the life of Sri Lanka.