Tissa Wewa

Anuradhapura

The extensive "lake" in this photograph is actually a man-made reservoir, built by and named after Devanampiya Tissa - "Lake Tissa," as we would call it.

Reservoirs like this were made simply, if laboriously, by damming up the outlets of any convenient natural body of water. Capture and control of water was essential for cultivation in Southeast Asia, where monsoons alternate with dry seasons. So important and labor-intensive are these works, that Southeast Asian polities are often referred-to as "hydraulic civilizations," recalling Parakramabahu's exhortation that "not one drop of water must flow into the ocean without serving the purposes of man."