The transformation of an ancient tank – based village (Wew Gama) in the past 50 years. The case from Bongama village

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.