Roads and bridges in pre-modern Sri Lanka

Prof. W. I. SIRIWEERA

The technique of road construction and bridge building in pre-modern Sri Lanka were not rudimentary as one would imagine. They were in fact on par with the skills shown by our ancestors in art and architecture and hydraulic engineering. They indicate that the communication system very well served the needs of the time. According to the fifth century Chinese traveller Fa-Hsien, the roads and streets in the city of Anuradhapura were excellently laid out and beautifully maintained. He further states that there were four principal streets in Anuradhapura and that they were wide and well paved with bricks and lined with walls built of bricks.

Sinhala literary texts refer to them as Mangul Maha Vithi or the ceremonial street, Mahaveli Vithi, Chandrawanka Vithi and the Singuruvana Vithi. Archaeological evidence indicates that terracotta pipes were laid under the streets for drainage purposes.

The other centres of political power such as Polonnaruwa, Magama, Dambadeniya, Yapahuwa, Kurunegala, Kotte and large market towns such as Mantai, Padaviya, and Vahalkada were also divided into different quarters by streets. The Mahavamsa refers to incessant traffic of elephants, horses and chariots in the streets of Polonnaruwa. The Hansa Sandesa refers to many shops where all commodities were available on either side of the streets of kotte.

Earliest roads

In the early stages of state formation there were only a few roads in the country but in course of time new roads were added to the communication network. Some of these were constructed to facilitate human movements and commodity transport from port-towns to political centres, and some from political capitals to regional centres and market towns for purposes of administration.

During times of war, some new roads were built and existing tracks were enlarged to facilitate the movement of armies. With the development of state sponsored large irrigation schemes, some of the bunds of the large reservoirs such as Kalavewa and Parakramasamudra, also turned out to be main roads and were added to the communication network.

One of the earliest main roads joined Anuradhapura with Jambukolapattana, present Sambiliturai, a port in the Northern tip of Jaffna peninsula. The road went through Rambeva, Pavatkulam, Omanthai and Vavunikulam. On this road several stone bridges spanned Malwatu Oya closer to Anuradhapura, Tulavelli near Pul Eliya and the canal which released water from the Pavatkulam reservoir.

The stone beams and slabs of those bridges are visible in these locations. Of these the better known one is the stone bridge near Periyapulankulama at Anuradhapura and the place is now called Galpalama. The Mahvamsa records that during the reign of Devanampiya Tissa (250-210 B.C), the branch of the sacred Bodhi Tree, placed in a beautifully decorated chariot, was brought in a procession to Anuradhapura along this road.

Obviously such roads and bridges were meant for elephants, horses, pack bulls, horse-drawn carriages, bullock carts as well as chariots in which royalty moved about.

Another main road connected Anuradhapura with the great port, Mahatittha or Mantai, at the mouth of the Malwatu Oya. This was an important commercial route through which the bulk of the imports were transported to the capital and export commodities were dispatched to the port. Trade between Sri Lanka and Tamil Kingdoms of South India through the port of Mantai helped the development of this road from early Christian times. Besides, this route was extensively used by South Indian invaders advancing from the seaport towards the Capital. Local rulers sending forces to help their allies in South India also followed the same route from Anuradhapura to Mahatittha.

The archaeological evidence as well as textual references indicates that the ancient road from Anuradhapura to Gokanna port or modern Trinomalee had almost followed the present one, yet another factor which points to the surveying skills of our ancestors. This road ran from Anuradhapura through Mihintale, Mahakanadarawa, Pankulam, Ratmale to Gokkana.

Stone bridge

There had been stone bridges across this road too, the most important and the well preserved one being the pre-fourth century A.D. bridge above the Kanadarawa river. The existing structure is 80 feet in length and ten feet in width. Ten feet long 14 stone beams of the size of 16 by 12 inches have been paved across it. The bridge is supported by 42 columns of 12 by 12 inches fixed on rocks on the bed of the river. The slabs of the bridge vary in sizes, the largest being eight feet long and 18 inches wide. The thickness of the slabs is six to eight inches. There are ruins of another stone bridge over the Yan Oya near Ratmale but the bridge had not been preserved.

Another main road stretched from Anuradhapura to Polonnaruva and from there via Dastota ford along the right bank of the Mahaveli River to Mahiyangana, Yudaganawa, Buttala, Kataragama upto Mahagama, present Tissamaharama. In the 12th century Nissankamalla (1187-1196) improved this road and caused inscribed pillars to be erected at each gavuva to indicate the distance from one area to another. Some of those pillars have been discovered and inscriptions on them have been published. This ancient road was in use until the modern networks of roads were constructed. Major Davy states that in 1815 he went along this route to Kataragama. Vestiges of stone bridges on this road too can be observed here and there.

At least in the 12th century there were two other roads leading to the North Central plains from the Southern coast. One started at Mahanagahula and Tissamaharama and went along the Eastern coast up to Sakamam to the West of Tirukkovil and up to Mahiyangana and from there to Polonnaruva. The other road started from Ambalantota and went along Dondra, Valigama, Bentota, Totagamuwa, Kalutara, Hettipola, Batalagoda, Manikdena to Anuradhapura. It is likely that the Southern direction of this road was improved and connected to commercially important centres such as Beruvela, Colombo and Wattala in the13th, 14th and 15th centuries.

The roads leading to Adams peak or Sumanakuta had been tracks or footpaths but in and after the 11th century certain stretches of these roads gradually developed so that vehicular traffic of the day could pass along those stretches. One of these roads was through Gilimale in the Kuruvita Korale of the Ratnapura District. Another was through Kehelgamuwa near Ginigathena. Some kings such as Vijayabahu I (1070-1110) and Parakramabahu II (1236-1270) improved these roads by widening them and building wooden bridges and provided resting places for pilgrims. Climbing the rock was through a narrow footpath and the climb near the summit was facilitated by iron chains fixed to the rock.

Bogoda bridge

One of the oldest surviving wooden bridges built across a footpath is the Bogoda roofed bridge which was also a resting place for weary travellers. It lies 10 kilometres away from Badulla off the Haliela junction and was constructed in the late 16th century or early 17th century along the main footpath from Badulla to Kandy. It has been built across the Gallanda Oya which flows to Uma Oya, a tributary of the Mahaveli Ganaga. The bridge stands on a large Kumbuk log 35 feet in height and thick and wide Jak planks have been flung across the stream to form the platform. The roof has distinctly early Kandyan tiles placed on wooden pillars and beams.