Rajanganaya Wewa (Sinhala: රාජාංගනය ජලාශය) is a reservoir built across the Kala Oya River, at Rajanganaya, bordering the North Western and North Central provinces of Sri Lanka. Presently, the bank of the reservoir and the premises in the lower area have been declared as an archaeological protected area by the government.
History
This is a newly built reservoir. However, on the Kadigala hill where the dam of Rajanganaya reservoir abuts into the rock are the ruins of ancient Maha Mangala Viharaya built on the bank of Gona Nadi (the ancient name used to identify the present Kala Oya river) by King Vankanasika Tissa [(111-114 A.D.) Arumugam, 1969; Nicholas, 1963]. Rock-cut flight of steps, Stupa Mounds and an inscription of Vankanasika Tissa are found at this site (Arumugam, 1969).
Kadigala Rock Inscription of Vankanasika Tissa
The rock inscription found on the Kadigala hill is the only inscription of King Vankanasika Tissa found so far in the country. The purpose of engraving this inscription was to record that a share of the merit, presumably gained by the performance of a good deed, was transferred by the king to his mother named Jitadevi (Paranavitana, 1983).
Rajangane Wewa Pillar Inscription of Dappula IV
A pillar inscription of King Dappula IV (924-935 A.D.) has been discovered from the site of this reservoir (Ranawella, 2005). It records certain immunities granted in respect of a village named Harepugama attached as a heritable property to Mahara Rapuha, (son ?) of the Mahaya (Ranawella, 2005).
The Reservoir
The reservoir has been constructed by damming the Kala Oya river (Arumugam, 1969). The bund of the reservoir is about 1.62 km. long and the water extends into an area of about 4,000 acres at its full supply level (Arumugam, 1969). It has one spill and two sluices (Arumugam, 1969).
A Protected Site
The bank of Rajangana Reservoir and the premises at the lower area allotted by the following geographical coordinates (8°08'29.46"N 80°13'19.55"E, 8°08'24.04"N 80°13'25.38"E, 8°08'18.51"N 80°13'23.01"E, 8°08'22.35"N 80°13'20.04"E, 8°08'22.08"N 80°13'18.37"E and 8°08'27.38"N 80°13'16.36"E) and the mound of ancient Stupa, evidence of ruined buildings, two drip-ledged caves and the staircase carved on the rock within such premises and Kadigala Archaeological Site with ancient Stupa situated on the rock in Rajangana Reservoir village belonging to the Grama Niladhari division of Orugala in the divisional Secretary’s Division, Giribawa are archaeological protected monuments, declared by the government Gazette notification published on 16 September 2023.
References
1) Arumugam, S., 1969. Water resources of Ceylon: its utilisation and development. Water Resources Board. p.349.
2) Nicholas, C. W., 1963. Historical topography of ancient and medieval Ceylon. Journal of the Ceylon Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, New Series (Vol VI). Special Number: Colombo. Royal Asiatic
Society (Ceylon Branch). p.92.
3) Paranavitana, S., 1983. Inscriptions of Ceylon, Late Brahmi
Inscriptions, Volume II (Part I). Archaeological Survey of Sri Lanka.
pp.81-85.
4) Ranawella, S., 2005. Inscription of Ceylon. Volume V, Part
III. Department of Archaeology. ISBN: 955-91-59-57-7. pp.25-26.
5) The Gazette of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka; Extraordinary. No: 2349/42. 16 September 2023. pp.3A-4A.
Attribution
1) Dam at Rajangana by Michael Shehan Obeysekera is licensed under CC BY 2.0