Traditional Methods and Systems Associated with the Paddy Cultivation in Ancient Sri Lanka

Abstract

Sri Lanka being an agricultural country from time immemorial definitely possessed various methodological and technological systems to promote, nourish, protect and safeguard their cultivations. At the outset it is necessary to analyse the climatic and environmental factors that prevailed in the island of Sri Lanka. This island is situated in the Monsoon region which provides seasonal rains during certain months of the year. The rest of the year, at times brings drought ,vhich dries up almost all the water sources in certain areas of the island. In ancient Sri Lanka the early agricultural settlers (Harris, D.R. 1969) preferred to set up their settlements in the dry zone, because these areas provided flat lands (Siri,veera I , 1990) and less forests. Ho,vever the main probiem they had to face in this area was the non-availability of sufficient ,vater for their cultivation. (Brohier, R.L. 1989) Since there are no rivers in Sri Lanka which provide a perennial ,vater supply for the entire year, farmers had to depend on reservoirs built for s toring ,vater for agricultural needs. Hence a system of irrigation had to be devised in order to carry out the agricultural activities (Chang T.T. 1989).