Funday Times

A series by Gaveshaka in association with Studio Times
Twin ponds - another unique architectural creation
Another artistic creation of ancient architectural value is the Kuttam Pokuna or Twin Ponds in Anuradhapura. As seen in the picture and as the name indicates, there are two ponds in this unique creation.

Kuttam Pokuna has been identified as ponds where water was collected for the monks to bathe. These monks were from the Abhayagiri Vihara, a monastery complex established after the first one, the Maha Vihara.

Judging from the sizes of the two ponds, the two of them may not have been built at the same time. They are not identical. The one in the north seems to have been built earlier than the other. They differ in size and certain features. The northern pond is 91 feet long while the other is 132 feet long. The width of both is the same - 51 feet. There is a slight difference in the depth. While the northern one is 14 feet deep, the other is 17 feet deep.

There are steps to go down to the ponds. There are slight variations in the staircases of the ponds. The one in the northern pond consists of twenty steps in a continuous pattern while the southern one has less. The eighteen steps in it are broken into three stages. While a single balustrade is seen in the northern one, the other has three. The northern pond has only two flights of stone while the southern pond has three.

Beautiful ‘pun kalas’ or pots of plenty adorn both ponds. They are situated at the top of the staircases. ‘Pun kalas’ were used in the early buildings as symbols of prosperity.

Another feature is the Naga guard-stone where a stone slab carved with the figure of a hooded cobra is placed in a selected spot. Being guard-stones, they are generally placed at the entrance to buildings of a religious significance. They are extremely beautiful carvings. The number of hoods varies from five to nine. The one at ‘kuttam pokuna’ is a five hooded cobra.

Water would have been supplied from one of the big tanks. There were at least three huge reservoirs in Anuradhapura - Tissawewa, Nuwarawewa and Basawakkulama. These are evidence of an advanced system of irrigation, which was in existence in the time of the Anuradhapura kingdom. Water brought to the two ponds had been first stored in an enclosure built above their level. It could have been used as a filtration basin from which the water flowed down to the ponds. Water flowed to the smaller pond through a ‘makara kata’ - the mouth of a makara, while the larger one had drawn the water from the smaller one through a duct below ground level connecting the two ponds. The water of both ponds drains out from a point at the bottom of the smaller pond.

Another form of ponds seen both in Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa is the royal bath known as ‘kumara pokuna’. There is mention of a royal bath in Anuradhapura where the inner walls were paved with dressed stone. An underground drain 70 feet long supplied water from the Tissawewa.

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