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It is well known that the Bogoda temple (Bogoda Raja Maha Viharaya) is a famous archaeological site situated in the Uva province, Sri Lanka. The live wooden bridge combined with a corridor canopy roof with attractive wooden carvings are the historical features of this place. Concerning the engineering excellences of our ancestors, the wooden deck structure supported by wooden piers are the proofs of the design and construction capability of the technologists. Identifying the importance of this bridge in the road construction the government has taken steps to model the bridge and establish it as a land mark of the local road construction technology and kept it in the Highway Museum at Peradeniya (Colombo- Kandy Road).
Recently, while on a short visit, I found more valuable archaeological assets from the same location. There are two ancient squatting pans, which might have been used by the monks resided in the temple before thousand years back. Unfortunately, from what I saw these two squatting pans are not preserved by any authority yet. The real archaeological and engineering values of these two ruins should be evaluated and preserved accordingly.
We can see similar type of sewer related structures in the Panduwasnuwara archaeological site. Archaeologists who are interested about these assets should show concern and attend to recording then for our future generation. Also sewage works Engineers should do research about contemporary technology involved with the following features of this product.
- Why do ancients separate urine and sludge before treating as squatting pan indicated?
- Why did they use a lid to close the sludge intake hole?
The lid which closed the sewer intake hole as appeared in the photograph might be a rare part of the product and should be preserved.
I would like to request from the authorities and interested parties to make suitable arrangements to preserve these ruins.
Following field photographs show the squatting pans.
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