Kuttam Pokuna has been identified as ponds where water was collected for the monks to bathe. These monks were from the Abhayagiri Vihara, a monastery complex established after the first one, the Maha Vihara. Judging from the sizes of the two ponds, the two of them may not have been built at the same time.

They are not identical. The one in the north seems to have been built earlier than the other. They differ in size and certain features. The northern pond is 91 feet long while the other is 132 feet long. The width of both is the same - 51 feet. There is a slight difference in the depth. While the northern one is 14 feet deep, the other is 17 feet deep. There are steps to go down to the ponds. There are slight variations in the staircases of the ponds. The one in the northern pond consists of twenty steps in a continuous pattern while the southern one has less. The eighteen steps in it are broken into three stages. While a single balustrade is seen in the northern one, the other has three. The northern pond has only two flights of stone while the southern pond has three.