Abstract:
Due to the giant development projects, the social-economical and the environmental
aspects of the traditional and ancient tank–based villages have started to fade away.
Especially because of the Mahaweli development project, which was established to
develop the dry zone areas, the people who lived in the ancient tank–based villages
have begun to migrate. By that, the transformation of the ancient tank–based villages
can be understood. No – 104 Bongama village was selected to study this
transformation of the ancient tank–based villages in the past 50 years. So this study
is based on the following areas in 104 –Bongama tank village. Also, these areas are
based on paddy fields and Chena cultivation, cultural aspects of the society, rural life
based on tank and school, customs and traditions, beliefs and rituals, society status,
land ownership, possession and usage styles, relationship, family and marriage, wild
animals and environment, division of labor. According to the above-mentioned areas,
the transformation in the last 50 years of the 104-Bongama village is discussed.
Primary data were collected from families based on simple probability from the
Bongama village. Besides, on this data collection, the above-mentioned
transformations have been discussed. Questionnaire and interview methods were
applied to the sample to abstain from the primary data while other data were gained
from secondary data sources, such as own observations, official data, MS Excel. And
Geographic information system techniques were used to analyze the data maps charts
and tables were used to present the data. Numerical and descriptive analysis were
used in the data analysis. According to the research, Bongama village as a Mahaweli
GN division village and Girathalana village as an ancient village are suffering from
deteriorating and few heirs are willing to develop the village by the tank. It has been
concluded that through this development many current problems in the Bongama
division will be solved.
