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Description
Considered to be "one of the most outstanding architectural and artistic creations of the ancient Sinhalese.” Intended as bathing ponds for the monks of Kapāra-Mūla, one of four institutes of monastic education that are joined to form a single complex. The larger pond is 132 x 51 feet; the smaller one, 91 x 51 feet. The depths range from 14 to 17 feet. Two stone punkalas (pots of abundance) on stone pedestals grace either side of the two entrances to each pond. The water supply was through underground conduits that conveyed it to stone chambers or silt traps and filtered before allowed to flow to the ponds. Around the two tanks are walls of dressed stone with a flush coping. Some of the stairs leading to the water have ornate balustrades. The two ponds are dissimilar due to their difference in age. The northern bath is smaller than its counterpart. There are some twenty ponds in the sacred area.
