3
Anuradhapura
377 BC-1017 AC
රෝහණ නැතහොත් රුහුණු මහා විහාරය නමින් හඳුන්වා ඇති පුරාණ විහාරයක් අම්පාර දිස්ත්රික්කයේ පානම ලාහුගල පිහිටා තිබේ. මොනරාගල පොතුවිල් A 4 මාර්ගයේ සියඹලාන්ඩුව හන්දියේ සිට කි.මි. 22ක් පමණ දුරකදී... read more
මේ පුදබිමේ ඉතාමත් ආකර්ශනිය නිර්මාණය වන්නේ සිලාමේඝ රජ සමයේ ඉදිකෙරුණු වටදාගෙයයි. වටදාගෙය මධ්යයේ කේශ ධාතූන් නිධන් කොට තැනූ ගිරිහඬු සෑයයි. කුඩා පරිමානයේ සෑයක්ව තිබු මේ සෑයද සිලාමේඝ රජ... read more
ශ්රී ලංකාව ඈත අතීතයේ සිටම විදේශ වෙළඳුන්ට වැදගත් වෙළඳ පොළක් වී තිබිණ. ඔවුහු ශ්රී ලංකාවෙන් මුතු, මැණික්, කුළුබඩු ආදිය රැගෙන ගියා සේම නැව් පුරා විවධ භාණ්ඩ වෙළඳාම සඳහා රැගෙන ආහ. මෙසේ... read more
මෙහි ඇති ක්රි.පූ.3 වන සියවසට පමණ අයත් වෙතැයි සැලකෙන අක්ෂර වලින් ලියැවුණු ශිලා ලේඛනයක දුටුගැමුණු රජුගේ සොහොයුරු සද්ධාතිස්ස රජු ගැන සඳහන් වී ඇතැයි කියවෙන බැවින් මෙය ඒ කාලයේ සිටම පැවත එන... read more
කණිට්ට තිස්ස රජතුමා විසින් ඉදි කරන ලද බවට සැලකෙන උපෝසථාගාරයක නටබුන් ප්රධාන ස්තුපය පිහිටි පර්වතයට දකුණින් දැකිය හැකිය. මෙහි දක්නට ලැබෙන ගල් කණු වල මුදුනේ ස්වභාවය අනුව මෙය මහල් කීපයක... read more
පරිවාර චෛත්ය ලෙස වසභ රජතුමා ඉදිකළ අනෙක් චෛත්ය දහයේ... read more
ලංකාවේ පැරණිම බුදුරුව පිහිටි ලෙන් විහාරය
අනුරාධපුර යුගයේදීම ආරම්භ කරන්නට ඇතැයි සැලකෙන මධ්ය කඳුකරයේ පිහිටි ඉපැරණි පුදබිමකි හිඳගල රජ මහා විහාරය. පේරාදෙණියේ සිට B 364 ගලහ පාරේ යනවිට... read more
මිහින්තලා කන්ද මඳ දුරක් නගින විට කුඩා කඳු ගැටයක් මත බෞද්ධ සිද්ධස්ථාන අතර ඉතා සැලකිය යුතු පුරාවිද්යා ස්මාරකයක් වන කණ්ටක චේතිය හමුවේ. පාදමේ වට ප්රමාණය අඩි 425 ක් පමණ හා දැනට ශේෂව ඇති උස... read more
කෞතුකාගාරය ඉදිරිපස කාමර ගණනාවකින් යුත් පැරණි රෝහලක නටබුන් දැකිය හැකිය. බෙහෙත් ඔරුවක්, උණුවතුර ස්නානය කිරීම සඳහා පිළියෙළ කළ ස්ථානයක් අදද මෙහිදක්නට ලැබේ. මෙහි කැනීම් වලදී ශල්ය උපකරණ,... read more
අම්භස්තල දාගැබ නැතහොත් සේල චෛත්යය ලෙස හැඳින්වෙන වටදාගෙය මිහිඳු මාහිමියන්ට දේවානම්පියතිස්ස රජු මුලින්ම මුණගැසුන ස්ථානයේ හා බුදුරජානන් වහන්සේ තුන්වැනි වර මෙහි වැඩම කල අවස්ථාවේ... read more
මිහින්තලා පුදබිම් සංකීර්ණයේ ඇති විශාලතම දාගැබ මහාථූපය, මහාචේතිය නම් වලින්ද හඳුන්වනු ලබන විෂ්කම්භය අඩි 136ක් පමණ හා උස අඩි 153 ක් පමණ වන මහදාඨික මහානාග රජතුමා විසින් කරවා ඇති මේ මහා සෑයයි.... read more
මිහින්තලයේ වැඩ විසු භික්ෂුන් වහන්සේලාගේ චීවර මසා ගැනීමට භාවිතා කළ ඉඳිකටු තැන්පත්කොට මේ ස්තුපය ඉදිකළ බව ජනප්රවාදයේ එයි. ක්රි.ව. 8 -9 සියවස්වල ඉදිකරන්නට ඇති බවට සැලකෙන මේ ස්තුපය අඩි 20 ක්... read more
පොකුණේ ඇති ජලය කළුවන් පැහැයට පෙනෙන බැවින් කළුදිය පොකුණ නම් ලද පොකුණ ආසන්නයේ පිහිටි ගල් ලෙන්, ස්නානාගාර, දාගැබ්, පිරිවෙන් භාවනා ශාලා ආදියේ නටබුන් හා සෙල් ලිපිවල සටහන් අනුව මේ ස්ථානයේද ආරාම... read more
ජනප්රවාදයේ සඳහන් වන්නේ මිහින්තලා ආරාමය ඉදිකිරීමට භාවිතා කළ ආයුධ තැන්පත් කොට මේ කටු සෑය ඉදිකළ බවයි. මේ ස්ථානයෙන් මහා යාන සුත්ර පාඨ ඇතුලත් තඹ තහඩු හමුවී ඇති බැවින් මෙයද 8 – 9 සියවස්වල... read more
මිහිඳු මහරහතන් වහන්සේගේ භෂ්මාවශේෂ වලින් කොටසක් නිදන් කොට දේවානම්පියතිස්ස රජතුමාගේ බාල සොයුරු උත්තිය රජු විසින් ක්රිස්තු පුර්ව දෙවන සියවසේ ඉදිකරන ලද්දකි මිහිඳු... read more
Kiri Vehera is an ancient stupa situated in Kataragama, Sri Lanka. This stupa probably dates back to the 6th century BC and is believed to be built by King Mahasena, a regional ruler of Kataragama area. One of the most popular Buddhist pilgrimage sites in the country, Kiri Vehera is among the Solosmasthana, the 16 most sacred Buddhist pilgrimage sites of ancient Sri Lanka. This stupa which is 95 ft. in height with a circumference of 280 ft. is located 800 m North to the famous Ruhunu Maha... read more
The Somawathiya Chaitya is a Buddhist Stupa situated in the ancient city of Polonnaruwa, Sri Lanka. Chaitya premises is called the Somawathiya Rajamaha Viharaya.
The Somawathiya Chaitya is located within the Somawathiya National Park on the left bank of the Mahaweli River, and is believed to have been built long before the time of Dutugamunu enshrining the right canine Relic of the tooth of the Buddha. It is attributed to the reign of King Kavan Tissa - Dutugemunu’s father - who... read more
Naka Vihara (Sinhalaː නඛා වෙහෙර) is a dagoba belonging to the late Anuradhapura period between 7-10 centuries C.E.[1] and located in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka. The dagoba has been built with bricks and square in shape. The site was constructed according to an unusual model and would have been similar to the seven story building (Satmahal Prasadaya) in Polonnaruwa, Sri Lanka. Excavations done at this location revealed several clay... read more
Sela Cetiya is one of the 16 main places of worship or Solosmasthana and is situated to the west of Jetavanaramaya in the ancient sacred city of Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka. This was constructed by King Lajjitissa who ruled in the 1st century BC. The diameter of the base of the stupa is 37 ½ feet. This stupa has been given this name as the platform and stupa has been constructed in stone. A moonstone and guardstones can be seen... read more
Dakkhina Stupa (Sinhalese: දක්ඛිණ ස්තුපය, lit. 'Dakkhiṇa Stupaya', Tamil: தக்கின தூப, lit. 'Dakkhiṇa Thupa') is a 2nd-century BC large brick Stupa in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka. The Stupa was identified to have been built to mark the site of cremation of King Dutugamunu (161 BC – 137 BC). The structure was identified in 1946 as Dakkhina Stupa by the eminent archaeologist Senarath Paranavithana.
This structure was for... read more
Rathna Prasadaya was a skyscraper built by King Kanittha Tissa who ruled Ceylon from 167 to 186 AD. Mihindu II and Mihindu IV renovated the building during the 8th and 10th centuries. The bhikkhus of the Tapovana belonging to the Pansakulika sect resided here. Beautiful guard stones of the Abhayagiri Viharaya were found here. The most beautiful and perfect guardstone of the Anuradhapura era which stands today can be seen... read more
Eth pokuna (Elephant pond) is an ancient man made pond situated close to Lankaramaya. It is 159 meters in length 52.7 meters across and 9.5 meters in depth with the holding capacity of 75,000 cubic meters of water.
The water to this pond has been supplied from the Periyamkulama Tank through a network of underground canals. These underground canals still work after so many hundreds years. This tank probably has been used by the monks in the Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery who amounted over... read more
Lankarama is a stupa built by King Valagamba, in an ancient place at Galhebakada in the ancient kingdom of Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka. Nothing is known about the ancient form of the stupa, and later this was renovated. The ruins show that there are rows of stone pillars and it is no doubt that there has been a house built encircling the stupa (vatadage) to cover it. The round courtyard of the stupa seems to be 10 feet (3 m) above the ground. The diameter of the stupa is 45 feet (14 m). The... read more
The Mirisaweti Stupa (Sinhalese: මිරිසවැටිය, Mirisavæṭiya) is situated in the ancient city of Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka.[1] King Dutugamunu (161 BC to 137 BC) built the Mirisaveti Stupa after defeating King Elara. After placing the Buddha relics in the sceptre, he had gone to Tissa Wewa for a bath leaving the sceptre. After the bath he returned to the place where the sceptre was placed, and it is said that it could not be moved. The stupa was built in the place... read more
Ridi Viharaya (Sinhalese: රිදී විහාරය) or Silver Temple is a 2nd-century BCE Theravada Buddhist temple in the village of Ridigama, Sri Lanka.[2][3] Built during the reign of Dutthagamani of Anuradhapura, the temple is considered as the place where the silver ore, which provided silver to complete Ruwanwelisaya; one of the largest stupa in Sri Lanka, was discovered.[4] According to the chronicles Mahavamsa and Thupavamsa, the Ridi Viharaya complex was built in gratitude... read more
The Jetavanaramaya is a stupa, or Buddhist reliquary monument, located in the ruins of Jetavana monastery in the world heritage city of Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka. At 122 metres (400 ft) it was the world's tallest stupa and the third tallest structure in the world[2] when it was built by King Mahasena of Anuradhapura (273–301). He initiated the construction of the stupa following the destruction of the Mahavihara. His son Maghavanna I completed the construction of the stupa. A part of... read more
Tissa Wewa, an artificial reservoir, was built by Devanampiya Tissa (3rd century BC) in order to increase the water supply to his capital city of Anuradhapura. Only Panda Wewa (5th century BC) and Abhaya Wewa (5th-4th century BC) are older. The embankment of Tissa Wewa is 2 miles (3.2 km) long and 25 feet (7.6 m) high.
Among other uses, the reservoir supplied water to Tissa's Royal Gardens. In later centuries, Tissa Wewa and the other lakes were enlarged and integrated into a... read more
Place: Isurumuniya Viharaya
Century: 8th century A.D
Period: Anuradhapura Period
Tradition: Guptha Kala (mystic)
Medium: Granite
Method: low relief "Ardha Unnata"
The Royal Family carving is carved on a Granite plate. There are five human figures carved on this plate. The human figure in the center is King Dutugamunu, who has a tall crown on his head and a "puna noola" around his chest. At his left are another two human figures.... read more
Place: Isurumuniya Rock
Century: 7th century A.D
Period: Anuradhapura Period
Tradition: Pallawa
Medium: Granite
Method: low relief "Ardha Unnata"
There are four elephants in this carving. It shows them bathing. The elephant figures here are very similar to the elephant figures in "Mamallapuram" In... read more
6th Century Gupta style carving. The woman, seated on the man's lap, lifts a warning finger, probably as a manifestation of her coyness; but the man carries on regardless. The figures may represent Dutugemunu's son Saliya and the low caste (Sadol Kula) maiden Asokamala whom he loved. It's known that he gave up the throne for her.
‘Siddha mahayaha kuni – maha (la) ka Asala yaha (di) ni’ [Hail! The cell of Mahaya is given to Venerable Asalaya]
The above... read more
Isurumuniya is a Buddhist temple situated near to the Tissa Wewa (Tisa tank) in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka. There are four carvings of special interest in this Vihara. They are the Isurumuniya Lovers, Elephant Pond and The Royal... read more
Valagamba (Sinhala: වළගම්බා), also known as Wattagamani Abhaya[1] and Valagambahu, was a king of the Anuradhapura Kingdom of Sri Lanka. Five months after becoming king, he was overthrown by a rebellion and an invasion from South India, but regained the throne by defeating the invaders fourteen years later. He is also known for the construction of the Abhayagiri... read more
Sigiriya or Sinhagiri (Lion Rock Sinhalese: සීගිරිය, Tamil: சிகிரியா, pronounced see-gi-ri-yə) is an ancient rock fortress located in the northern Matale District near the town of Dambulla in the Central Province, Sri Lanka. The name refers to a site of historical and archaeological significance that is dominated by a massive column of rock nearly 200 metres (660 ft) high. According to the ancient Sri Lankan chronicle the Culavamsa, this site was selected by... read more
Thuparamaya is an ancient Buddhist temple in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka. Located in the sacred area of Mahamewna park, the Thuparamaya Stupa is the earliest Dagoba to be constructed in the island, dating back to the reign of King Devanampiya Tissa (247-207 BC). The temple has been formally recognised by the Government as an archaeological site in Sri... read more
Yoda Ela (Giant Canal) or Jaya Ganga, an 87 km (54 mi) long single banking water canal carrying excess water from Kala Wewa reservoir to Thissa Wewa reservoir in Anuradhapura. The Yodha Ela is known for achieving a rather low gradient for its time. The gradient is about 10 centimetres per kilometre or 6 inches per... read more
One of the best specimen of bathing tanks or pools in ancient Sri Lanka is the pair of pools known as Kuttam Pokuna (Twin Ponds/Pools). The said pair of pools were built by the Sinhalese in the ancient kingdom of Anuradhapura. These are considered one of the significant achievements in the field of hydrological engineering and outstanding architectural and artistic creations of the ancient Sinhalese.
Dimensions
A garden was landscaped which separates the two ponds which long is... read more
The Maligawila Buddha statue is a standing figure of the Buddha in Sri Lanka, which has been carved out of a large limestone rock during the 7th century by a prince named Aggabodhi. It is the tallest free-standing ancient statue of the Buddha found in the country. It had been broken into several pieces by the time it was found in 1951. The statue was reconstructed and raised again in 1980 under the direction of the then president Ranasinghe... read more
The Samadhi Statue is a statue situated at Mahamevnāwa Park in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka. The Buddha is depicted in the position of the Dhyana Mudra, the posture of meditation associated with his first Enlightenment. Whether the Buddha's Enlightenment was the experience technically called samadhi, or some other phenomenon, may depend upon the philosophical allegiance of the believer. In the Dhyana Mudra the Buddha sits cross-legged with his upturned palms placed one over the other on his... read more
Kala Wewa, built by the King Datusena in 307 B.C, is a twin reservoir complex (Kala Wewa & Balalu Wewa) which has a capacity of 123 million cubic meters. This reservoir complex has facilitated with a stone made spillway and three main sluices. From the central major sluice, a 40 feet wide central conveys water to feed thousands of acres of paddy lands and ends at the historical capital Anuradhapura city tank Tissa Wewa meandering over 87 km (54 mi) at a slope of 6 inches per mile and is... read more
The Avukana statue is a standing statue of the Buddha near Kekirawa in North Central Sri Lanka. The statue, which has a height of more than 40 feet (12 m), was carved out of a large granite rock face during the 5th century. It depicts a variation of the Abhaya mudra, and the closely worn robe is elaborately carved. Constructed during the reign of Dhatusena, it may have been made as a result of a competition between a master and a pupil. The Avukana statue is one of the best examples of a... read more
Lovamahapaya is a building situated between Ruwanweliseya and Sri Mahabodiya in the ancient city of Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka. It is also known as the Brazen Palace or Lohaprasadaya because the roof was covered with bronze tiles. In ancient times, the building included the refectory and the... read more
The Ruwanwelisaya is a stupa, a hemispherical structure containing relics, in Sri Lanka, considered sacred to many Buddhists all over the world.[1] It was built by King Dutugemunu[citation needed] c. 140 B.C., who became lord of all Sri Lanka after a war in which the Chola King Ellalan, was defeated. It is also known as "Mahathupa", "Swarnamali Chaitya", "Suvarnamali Mahaceti" (in Pali) and "Rathnamali Dagaba".
This is one of the... read more