45-596: Beira Lake (/ˈbeɪrə/; Sinhala : බේරේ වැව , romanized: Bērē væva ( IPA: [beːreː ˈʋæʋə] ); Tamil : பேரே ஏரி , romanized: Pērē ēri ( IPA: [peːɾeː eːɾi] )) is a man-made lake in the centre of the city of Colombo in Sri Lanka . The lake is surrounded by many large businesses in the city. It initially occupied approximately 1.65 km (0.64 sq mi) of land 100 years ago but has since been reduced to 0.65 km (0.25 sq mi) today due to various reasons. During
90-783: A supposed former abundance of lions on the island. According to the chronicle Mahāvaṃsa , written in Pali, Prince Vijaya of the Vanga Kingdom and his entourage merged in Sri Lanka with later settlers from the Pandya kingdom . In the following centuries, there was substantial immigration from Eastern India, including additional migration from the Vanga Kingdom (Bengal), as well as Kalinga and Magadha . This influx led to an admixture of features of Eastern Prakrits. The development of Sinhala
135-653: A Dravidian origin for this word. ), dola for pig in Vedda and offering in Sinhala. Other common words are rera for wild duck, and gala for stones (in toponyms used throughout the island, although others have also suggested a Dravidian origin). There are also high frequency words denoting body parts in Sinhala, such as olluva for head, kakula for leg, bella for neck and kalava for thighs, that are derived from pre-Sinhalese languages of Sri Lanka. The oldest Sinhala grammar, Sidatsan̆garavā , written in
180-427: A constriction in the upper jaw. For hard-to-distinguish specimens, the protruding tooth is the most reliable feature to define the species ' family . Crocodiles have more webbing on the toes of the hind feet and can better tolerate saltwater due to specialized salt glands for filtering out salt, which are present, but non-functioning, in alligators. Another trait that separates crocodiles from other crocodilians
225-722: A period of prior bilingualism: "The earliest type of contact in Sri Lanka, not considering the aboriginal Vedda languages, was that which occurred between South Dravidian and Sinhala. It seems plausible to assume prolonged contact between these two populations as well as a high degree of bilingualism. This explains why Sinhala looks deeply South Dravidian for an Indo-Aryan language. There is corroboration in genetic findings." In addition to many Tamil loanwords , several phonetic and grammatical features also present in neighbouring Dravidian languages set modern spoken Sinhala apart from its Northern Indo-Aryan relatives. These features are evidence of close interactions with Dravidian speakers. Some of
270-614: A sufficient level of oxygen. But it would be more stressful during dry season. Salinity is very stable (around 0.12 g/L (4.3 × 10 lb/cu in)) over time and along the water column. The Beira Lake plays a major role in the Western Region Megapolis Project . Under the project the Beira lake is expected to be cleaned and developed with Singaporean assistance and private sector involvement. Waterways will be cleared by blocking illegal water outlets and sewerage lines into
315-451: Is a cladogram showing the relationships of the major extant crocodile groups based on molecular studies, excluding separate extinct taxa: Caiman [REDACTED] Melanosuchus [REDACTED] Paleosuchus [REDACTED] Alligator [REDACTED] Crocodylus [REDACTED] Mecistops [REDACTED] Osteolaemus [REDACTED] Gavialis [REDACTED] Tomistoma [REDACTED] Below
360-647: Is a compound of krokè ( ' pebbles ' ), and drilos/dreilos ( ' worm ' ), although drilos is only attested as a colloquial term for ' penis ' . It is ascribed to Herodotus , and supposedly describes the basking habits of the Egyptian crocodile. The form crocodrillus is attested in Medieval Latin . It is not clear whether this is a medieval corruption or derives from alternative Greco-Latin forms (late Greek corcodrillos and corcodrillion are attested). A (further) corrupted form cocodrille
405-473: Is a conspicuous example of the linguistic phenomenon known as diglossia . Sinhala ( Siṁhala ) is a Sanskrit term; the corresponding Middle Indo-Aryan ( Eḷu ) word is Sīhala . The name is a derivative of [[[:wikt:सिंह|siṁha]]] Error: {{Transliteration}}: transliteration text not Latin script ( help ) , the Sanskrit word for 'lion'. The name is sometimes glossed as 'abode of lions', and attributed to
450-1221: Is a more detailed cladogram of Crocodylidae, based on a 2021 study using paleogenomics that extracted DNA from the extinct Voay . Mecistops cataphractus West African slender-snouted crocodile Euthecodon † Brochuchus † Rimasuchus † Osteolaemus osborni Osborn's dwarf crocodile Osteolaemus tetraspis Dwarf crocodile Voay † Crocodylus anthropophagus † Crocodylus thorbjarnarsoni † Crocodylus palaeindicus † Crocodylus Tirari Desert † Crocodylus johnstoni Freshwater crocodile Crocodylus novaeguineae New Guinea crocodile Crocodylus mindorensis Philippine crocodile Crocodylus porosus Saltwater crocodile Crocodylus siamensis Siamese crocodile Crocodylus palustris Mugger crocodile Crocodylus checchiai † Crocodylus falconensis † Crocodylus suchus West African crocodile Crocodylus niloticus Nile crocodile Crocodylus moreletii Morelet's crocodile Crocodylus rhombifer Cuban crocodile Crocodylus intermedius Orinoco crocodile Crocodylus acutus American crocodile Alternatively, some morphological studies have recovered Mecistops as
495-584: Is an Indo-Aryan language primarily spoken by the Sinhalese people of Sri Lanka , who make up the largest ethnic group on the island, numbering about 16 million. Sinhala is also spoken as the first language by other ethnic groups in Sri Lanka, totalling about 2 million speakers as of 2001. It is written using the Sinhala script , which is a Brahmic script closely related to the Grantha script of South India. Sinhala
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#1732858859094540-479: Is divided into four epochs: The most important phonetic developments of Sinhala include: According to Wilhelm Geiger , an example of a possible Western feature in Sinhala is the retention of initial /v/ which developed into /b/ in the Eastern languages (e.g. Sanskrit viṁśati "twenty", Sinhala visi- , Hindi bīs ). This is disputed by Muhammad Shahidullah who says that Sinhala Prakrit branched off from
585-558: Is found in Old French and was borrowed into Middle English as cocodril(le) . The Modern English form crocodile was adapted directly from the Classical Latin crocodīlus in the 16th century, replacing the earlier form. The use of -y- in the scientific name Crocodylus (and forms derived from it) is a corruption introduced by Laurenti (1768). Crocodylidae was named as a family by Georges Cuvier in 1807. It belongs to
630-421: Is housed in the nearby "Lake House" building. The lake with many government owned properties has been earmarked for development including a casino district on its McCullum road water front. The lake is home to species of storks, pelicans, monitor lizards and various species of fish. The lake gets its famous green colour and unusually bad odour due to the result of pollution over hundreds of years and algae that
675-412: Is one of the official and national languages of Sri Lanka, alongside Tamil . Along with Pali , it played a major role in the development of Theravada Buddhist literature. Early forms of the Sinhala language are attested as early as the 3rd century BCE. The language of these inscriptions, still retaining long vowels and aspirated consonants, is a Prakrit similar to Magadhi , a regional associate of
720-575: Is present in the water. The bad smell is mostly prominent during dry weather, due to the high rates of evaporation and it fades off with the arrival of the rainy season. Water of Beira Lake is polluted, from which it gets a bad odour and green colour. But contrary to the canal system of Colombo, the lake contains water with a very alkaline pH value got by primary production and continuous bloom. In August it gets its maximum value, but becomes more neutral from top to bottom, pH value decreasing from 10 to 8. The lake water never gets an acidic pH. Conductivity of
765-406: Is that the upper and lower jaws of the crocodiles are the same width, and the teeth in the lower jaw fall along the edge or outside the upper jaw when the mouth is closed; therefore, all teeth are visible, unlike an alligator, which possesses in the upper jaw small depressions into which the lower teeth fit. Also, when the crocodile's mouth is closed, the large fourth tooth in the lower jaw fits into
810-726: Is their much higher levels of aggression . Crocodile size , morphology , behaviour and ecology differ somewhat among species . However, they have many similarities in these areas as well. All crocodiles are semiaquatic and tend to congregate in freshwater habitats such as rivers , lakes , wetlands and sometimes in brackish water and saltwater . They are carnivorous animals, feeding mostly on vertebrates such as fish , reptiles , birds and mammals , and sometimes on invertebrates such as molluscs and crustaceans , depending on species and age. All crocodiles are tropical species that, unlike alligators, are very sensitive to cold . They separated from other crocodilians during
855-574: The British took control they removed the crocodiles and developed the area surrounding the lake for recreational activities such as rowing and yachting . The area around the lake was popular for parties including a grand ball that was held to celebrate the news of British victory in Waterloo . Ceylon's first botanical garden the Kew Gardens was opened on Slave Island in 1810 to cultivate seedlings provided by
900-461: The Eocene epoch, about 55 million years ago. Many species are at the risk of extinction , some being classified as critically endangered . The word crocodile comes from Ancient Greek κροκόδιλος (krokódilos) 'lizard', used in the phrase ho krokódilos tou potamoú , ' the lizard of the ( Nile ) river ' . There are several variant Greek forms of the word attested, including
945-700: The Middle Indian Prakrits that had been used during the time of the Buddha . The most closely related languages are the Vedda language (an endangered, indigenous creole still spoken by a minority of Sri Lankans, mixing Sinhala with an isolate of unknown origin and from which Old Sinhala borrowed various aspects into its main Indo-Aryan substrate), and the Maldivian language . It has two main varieties, written and spoken, and
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#1732858859094990-582: The Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew in London to be planted in Peradeniya Botanical Gardens . By the 19th century land reclamation for development began and the land area of the lake was reduced, pollution also began to increase. Four main basins can be identified in the lake: The only canal the lake connected to is St. Bastian Canal from its northeast end. From the northwest, it outflows to
1035-576: The UNESCO National Commission of Ceylon According to Wilhelm Geiger , Sinhala has features that set it apart from other Indo-Aryan languages. Some of the differences can be explained by the substrate influence of the parent stock of the Vedda language . Sinhala has many words that are only found in Sinhala, or shared between Sinhala and Vedda and not etymologically derivable from Middle or Old Indo-Aryan. Possible examples include kola for leaf in Sinhala and Vedda (although others suggest
1080-573: The crocodile infested lake by cutting off several canals but failed to defeat the Portuguese as they brought reinforcements from India through sea. After the Dutch laid siege and captured the lake it was expanded by reducing the fort by 1/3 of the previous and created several islands such as the Slave Island : some of them were large enough to have a village and a plantation of 600 coconut trees. After
1125-600: The ' Bank or Edge of the Lake '. Another idea is that it got from ' De Beer ', which in Portuguese meant the ' Anchoring Poin t'. It may have also been named after the Portuguese province of the same name. The lake was built by the Portuguese to provide protection to Colombo from enemies, mainly local kings . By 1518, the Portuguese ruled over Colombo, but the increasing threats against Portuguese rule by King Vijayabahu VII and Sinhalese forces made them look for better solutions other than their modern weaponry. One of such early ideas
1170-464: The 13th century CE, recognised a category of words that exclusively belonged to early Sinhala. The grammar lists naram̆ba (to see) and koḷom̆ba (fort or harbour) as belonging to an indigenous source. Koḷom̆ba is the source of the name of the commercial capital Colombo . The consistent left branching syntax and the loss of aspirated stops in Sinhala is attributed to a probable South Dravidian substratum effect. This has been explained by
1215-607: The City of Colombo is having a complete length of 10 1 ⁄ 2 miles. It which had the Mount of Lawrence was surrounded by a lagoon. In some places at summer time it was deep only to the waist, and was a lake which gave access to City of Colombo" In 1578, Mayadunne of the Kingdom of Sitawaka attempted to cut off supplies to the invaders but failed to drain the lake. His son Rajasingha I (a.k.a. Sithawaka Rajasinghe) succeeded in 1587 in draining
1260-700: The Eastern Prakrits prior to this change. He cites the edicts of Ashoka , no copy of which shows this sound change. An example of an Eastern feature is the ending -e for masculine nominative singular (instead of Western -o ) in Sinhalese Prakrit. There are several cases of vocabulary doublets , one example being the words mæssā ("fly") and mækkā ("flea"), which both correspond to Sanskrit makṣikā but stem from two regionally different Prakrit words macchiā (Western Prakrits) and makkhikā (as in Eastern Prakrits like Pali ). In 1815,
1305-494: The Indian Ocean via Mc. Callum Gates and via a semicircular spillway to the west (commonly known as "බේරේ බේසම" translit. Bērē bēsama = Beira Basin). Lined with many large warehouses, reminiscent of its past when tea used to be transported to the port of Colombo on barges via the port access canal, the lake now is very quiet with many of the warehouses having been abandoned. With maximum length of 1.6 km (1 mi)
1350-510: The colonial era of the Portuguese , Dutch and the English , the lake was used for a wide variety of purposes. It still retains its Portuguese name. It is connected to many intricate canals which provided an easy way of transporting goods within the city and suburban cities. The derivation of the name is uncertain, yet it was as recent as 1927 that 'Beira Lake' first appeared on maps. Before that, it
1395-563: The features that may be traced to Dravidian influence are: ඒක ēka it අලුත් aḷut new කියලා kiyalā having-said මම mama I දන්නවා dannavā know ඒක අලුත් කියලා මම දන්නවා ēka aḷut kiyalā mama dannavā it new having-said I know "I know that it is new." ඒක ēka it අලුත් aḷut new ද da Q කියලා kiyalā having-said මම mama I දන්නේ Crocodile Crocodiles ( family Crocodylidae ) or true crocodiles are large, semiaquatic reptiles that live throughout
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1440-454: The gharial are similar in appearance, they belong to separate biological families . The gharial, with its narrow snout , is easier to distinguish, while morphological differences are more difficult to spot in crocodiles and alligators. The most obvious external differences are visible in the head, with crocodiles having narrower and longer heads, with a more V-shaped than a U-shaped snout compared to alligators and caimans. Another obvious trait
1485-590: The island of Ceylon came under British rule . During the career of Christopher Reynolds as a Sinhalese lecturer at the School of African and Oriental Studies, University of London , he extensively researched the Sinhalese language and its pre-1815 literature. The Sri Lankan government awarded him the Sri Lanka Ranjana medal for his work. He wrote the 377-page An anthology of Sinhalese literature up to 1815 , selected by
1530-715: The lake and relocating settlements that dump waste to the lake in the area to social housing units. Under the Megapolis plan after the restoration a shopping district , an entertainment district and a promenade will be created in the area around the Beira lake alongside many hotels and mixed development projects. Sinhala language Sinhala ( / ˈ s ɪ n h ə l ə , ˈ s ɪ ŋ ə l ə / SIN -hə-lə, SING -ə-lə ; Sinhala: සිංහල , siṁhala , [ˈsiŋɦələ] ), sometimes called Sinhalese ( / ˌ s ɪ n ( h ) ə ˈ l iː z , ˌ s ɪ ŋ ( ɡ ) ə ˈ l iː z / SIN -(h)ə- LEEZ , SING -(g)ə- LEEZ ),
1575-553: The lake has been home to Colombo Rowing Club for over 140 years. The Sri Lanka Exhibition and Convention Centre is located on the waterfront, further the People's Bank and the Inland Revenue Department headquarters are located in close to the lake.St. Joseph's college Colombo, the only school in Sri Lanka to have its very own Rowing pier is situated on the banks of the Beira lake. The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Limited
1620-677: The larger superfamily Crocodyloidea , which also includes additional extinct crocodile relatives. These all belong to the order Crocodilia , which also includes alligators and gharials . Crocodylidae is cladistically defined as a crown group composed of the last common ancestor of the Nile crocodile ( Crocodylus niloticus ), the Dwarf crocodile ( Osteolaemus tetraspis ), and all of its descendants. It contains two subfamilies : Crocodylinae and Osteolaeminae . Crocodylinae contains 13-14 living species, as well as 6 extinct species. Osteolaeminae
1665-514: The later form krokódeilos ( κροκόδειλος ) found cited in many English reference works. In the Koine Greek of Roman times, krokodilos and krokodeilos would have been pronounced identically, and either or both may be the source of the Latinized form crocodīlus used by the ancient Romans. It has been suggested, but it is not certain that the word crocodilos or crocodeilos
1710-641: The mainland and the fort was done using boats. The original area of the lake was 1.61 km (0.62 sq mi). Primary outflows then were the Kayman's Gate to the east and St. John's Canal to the west. It was bordered from Mount of St. Bastian, Mount of Wolvendaal and from Mount of Kochchikade. To the north and west of the lake were the Portuguese forts. The nature of the lake then has been described in Conquista Temporale Espiritual de Ceylão (1687) by Fr. Fernão de Queyroz : "The lake around
1755-464: The same trend as temperature in August. Likewise the thermocline, an oxycline appears exclusively in August. Below 1 m (3 ft 3 in) depth, dissolved oxygen is stable at 7 mg/L (2.5 × 10 lb/cu in) during May, June and July. Though it is decreased during August from 13 mg/L (4.7 × 10 lb/cu in) to 6 mg/L (2.2 × 10 lb/cu in), shallow depth allows preserving
1800-515: The tropics in Africa , Asia , the Americas and Australia . The term “crocodile” is sometimes used more loosely to include all extant members of the order Crocodilia , which includes the alligators and caimans (both members of the family Alligatoridae ), the gharial and false gharial (both members of the family Gavialidae ) as well as other, extinct, taxa. Although crocodiles, alligators, and
1845-465: The water retains fairly stable between 250 μS/cm and 300 μS/cm, with a slight increase from May to August. Full temperature ranges between 29.3 and 35.4 °C (84.7 and 95.7 °F). Average temperature is 31 °C (88 °F) and August is the warmest month. The temperature decreases rapidly 2 or 3 °C (36 or 37 °F), from the surface to 60–100 cm (24–39 in) in-depth and remains stable after that. Dissolved oxygen generally follows
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1890-432: Was called the ' Colombo Lake ' or just ' The Lake '. One theory is that it got its name from a Portuguese engineer named ' Beira ' who worked in constructing the lake or from a Dutch engineer named ' De Beer '. The idea of De Beer is supported by a granite plaque which was recovered from the sluice of the lake, inscribed " De Beer 1700 ". Another theory is that it was named from the word ' Beira ', which in Portuguese meant
1935-510: Was discovered by Portuguese Captain Lopo de Brito , while he was chasing away another invasion led by King Vijayabahu VII . After informing the officials at the fort about this stream, it was connected to the moat they had dug, creating Beira Lake. Then the lake was completely connected with the sea from both sides, separating the Colombo Fort from the mainland. All means of transportation between
1980-474: Was making a huge moat around the fort. The construction of the moat began by digging the marshy land which was around the fort in all directions other than west (west of the fort was the Indian Ocean). But these works were demotivated by the size of it and the small amount of water in the marsh which was not enough to fill a lake. But a stream which flowed between Mount of Dematagoda and Mount of St. Bastian
2025-569: Was named by Christopher Brochu in 2003 as a subfamily of Crocodylidae separate from Crocodylinae, and contains the two extant genera Osteolaemus and Mecistops , along with several extinct genera. The number of extant species within Osteolaeminae is currently in question. Recent molecular studies using DNA sequencing have shown crocodiles to be more closely related to the gavialids rather than to alligators , contrary to prior theories based on morphological studies alone. Below
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