Elephant Pond

This gigantic man-made pond called “Eth Pokuna” or “Elephant Pond” is situated close to Lankaramaya in Anuradhapura, it forms a part of Abhayagiri monastery complex. This is a rectangular pond, 159 meters in length 52.7 meters across and 9.5 meters in-depth with the holding capacity of 75,000 cubic meters of water.The tank is made out of large stone blocks stacked at an angle at the walls. There 3 sets of stairs to the bottom, in south, north and eastern sides. The bottom is not paved.

The water to this pond has been supplied from the Periyamkulama Tank through a network of underground conduits, and you still can see part of the water lines made out of stone blocks. The water is filtered through external filter pits before the water is fed to the pond.

These underground canals still work after so many hundreds years, after a very heavy rainy season you could see water pouring though these inlets from the Periyamkulama tank.