Thanthirimale.

A part of the Auradhapura District, Thantirimale spreads over 366 of the Mahavilachchiya Divisional Secretariat consisting of, Dematamagoda, Nelumvila, Sandamaleliya, Thuppitiyawa, Navodagama, mahaahatuwawa and Oyamaduwa Grama Niladhari Divisions.

This historical valley where the Malwatu Oya crosses the Kandara Oya, is bordered by the Malwatu Oy to the North and East,

Wilpattu National Wildlife Sanctuary to the West, and the Mahawilachchiya Main Road to the South.

Ways to rteach Thanthirimale.

01. Travel along the Anuradhapura Mahawilachchiya road, 18 kilometers, and turn right to the Sri Wimalagnana Road, 18 km ahead is 

the Thantirimale Raja Maha Viharaya.

02. Travel along the Mannarama road from the Madawachchiya town, 18 km, from the area known as Gajasinghepura and turn left and 

travel 12 km. The Thantirimale Rajamaha Viharaya could be reached this way too. 

How the name Thanthirimale was formed.

During the time of King Devanampiyatissa , this area has been known as Thivanka Bamunugama. It is beleived that the Kings son, and 

his wife from a lower stratum of society had been banished by the King to this area and later forgiven them. Since the king's gift,

a golden necklace int he shape of a butterfly known as Thanthiri had been buried here, te place is known as Thanthirimale, according

From Thanthirimale

to one story.  Another thery is that the name is an offshoot of Thangethirimale, which refers to the place where the people

accompanying the Sri Maha Bodhi had rested, in Tamil.  

The places of worship at Thanthirimale.

Ashtapala Bodhinwahanse.

An Ashtapala Bodhiwahanse, a shoot of the Sri Maha Bodhiya, from the first eight shoots is situatd on the top of a stone surface 

250 acres in extent. It is also believed that the people accomying the Sri Maha Bidhiya had rested here for a day.

Samadhi Buddha Statue.

On the right side of the Bidhiya is an eight foot high Samadhi Buddha Statue. On either sid eof the statue, two gods are present.

Behind the statue is a Makara thorana, or Dragon pandol. It is supported by two lion- figues. On the northern slope of the stone

on which the Bidhiya is situated, a special sleeping Buddha statue is sculpted on the stone. On the eastern side of the stone, near

the beautiful Nelum pond, a stone surface, on which a square monument is buiilt. This is the Pothgula.

Also, ancient cave paintings are present at Thanthirimale, which are more than 4000 years old, according to Professor Senerath

Paranavithana. After the renovations in 1960, a beautiful Cheiththiya and Vihara ge have been built. 

The priest who came formward to renovate this site in 1960, was Wimalakeerthi Sri Sumana Kudakongaskada Wimalagnana thero.

After the priest was killed in a terrorist attack in 1992, Thanthirimale Chandrarathne thero presently acts as the Cheif priest of the 

temple.

තන්තිරිමලය,තන්තිරිමලය,තන්තිරිමලය,

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Butthala

Ruhunu, Maya and Pihiti comprised the ancient Tri-Sinhale. The Ruhunu Rata or Rohana Deshaya was an independent kingdom spread over about three-fourth of the country. The Uva province which belonged traditionally to Rohana, was declared in 186 to be a separate administrative unit.

When studying the religious, cultural and social history of Sri Lanka, the Uva province receives a special place. At times, the history of Uva extend beyond the Anuradhapura era, and pre-Vijayan history.

According to the Mahavamsa, by the first century A.D, Uva had been known as Huawa (Mahawamsa, Chapter 60). There is evidence to suggest that the present name, Uva had been coined in the 17 th century.

The boundaries of Uva.

The Maha Disava of Uva is as large as 3277 1/8 square miles. About 32 square miles are reserved for water reservoirs. While one boundary is the Mahaveli river, on the other side, the Walwe river, Galoya, Kubukkanoya, Manika river, Kiridi oya, Walawe river and the mountains they originate from, bring great beauty to the Uva province.

The boundaries of Uva according to a folk-song are,

From the southern and Eastern sides,

Marked by the Sripada

And the Walawe river

The bounderis of Uva were marked

Kistorical Yudaganawa.

The Historical Yudaganawa cheithya situated in the Monaragala District, is of great historical value.

The Yudaganawa temple is located about 2km from the Buttala town, on the Monaragala-Wellawaya road. Surrounding the temple are the Manik river on the East, the Puhulgala Mountai range on the North, the Yudagana river and a paddy field on the west, and Buthgal or the Buttala city on the South.

The largest templeever built in Sri Lanka is the Yudagana temple and is 1038 Square feet in circumference.

There are many legends regarding the Yudagana temple. One of them is that King Dutugemunu built the temple to ward off the sins of war with his brother Saddhathissa. The opinion of Prof. Senerath Paranawithana is that the temple is the ancient Cheeragama or Keeragama which was built for the demise of king Parakuba’s (1153-1186).

History bears evidence that the Yudaganawa temple was built in the 2 nd Century A.D. by King Mahanaga. It is believed that the king had built a thousand temples in the area. According to the Mahawamsa, the Dutugemunu-Saddhathissa war took place here.

The Maligawila Buddha Statue.

The Maligawila temple had been known in the past as Ariyakara. The villagers believe that the name was changed to Maligawila on account of the great palace and lakes in the area. The Maligawila temple is spread on 250 acres of land.

The history of Maligawila runs back to the 7 th century and 8 th century A.D. Historically, the statue here had been built by King Dappula.

There are many theories about the height of the Maligawila statue. It is 54 feet and 110 tons in size. There is evidence that the statue had been made in another place, and transported here. This is the only temple that has been built without any supports, and is an important Thereada Buddhist statue

Dambgoda Buddha Statue.

When travelling about a kilometer on the road near the Maligawila statue, the Dabegoda Bodhisatva statue is seen. This area was known as Kana grama in the past, referring to the healing of eye diseases.

The dabegoda Statue is an Apa Loketheesvara statue. This statue, with Mahayana influence, shows evidence of a seven storied building built around it. The two eyes of the statue depict the sun and moon. According to folklore, gems were placed in the eyes in the past.

This area was known as Dewala kanda in the past, and had been dilapidated for some time, and reconstructed in the 1990’s.

Dematamal Viharaya

From butthala

The Dematamal Vihara which is situated in the Okkampitiya Grama Sewa Wasama of the Buddata Divisional Secretatriat of the Monaragala district, is a Buddhist place of worship with great historical importance. The Dematamal Viara is recorded as the first Panchawasa Vihara in the country, ( containing Cheiththiya, Pilima Geya, Seemawa shala etc…)

According to the story, rhe Dematamal Vihara had provided protection to prince Saddhatissa. It is a famous fact that the two brothers were against each other. The prince Tissa who lost the war had hid at the temple. The priests had tried to secretly transport the prince out of the temple. Prince Gemunu having seen this had said, “Tissa, Don’t do that!” Therefore, it is thought that Dutumal became Dematamal.

It is reasonable to say that the Dematamal Vihara is a special Vihara in the country, since a Upa Pala decorated the kotha, similar to the Shanthi Stupa system of India. This is the only cheiththiya to have a Upa Pala. The Upa Gala is 18 feet in height. A rare guardstone can also be seen.

Also, after turning at the Kubukkana junction and travelling about 6 km, turning to the right from Okampitiya, this temple can be reached.

Yatiallathota.

This Vihara is situated far from the Buttala city at Palawaththa.

The history of this Vihara begins with king Mahanaga. When the queen had felt the need to deliver her child at Mannaram diya, she had said that the child should be caught. Thus, the place became Yatiallathota.

Later on, a palace, Bisokotuwa and Cheiththiya were built in the area. Another folk-tale is that the water had been brought there from the Yudaganawa tank. According to inscriptions, King Nissankamalla had renovated the vihara. The historical Kutumbala Vihara is situated nearby.

Chakrith Koththagoda-

Buttala hotels
Galapita Eco Lodge
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Jaffna Trip 03 -Out Of The Town

POINT PADRO , பருத்தித்துறை, පේදුරු තුඩුව

The point Pedro is at 432 Km distance from point Donra and most people coming to Jaffna and visiting Nagadeepa and Nallur kovil, like to visit point Pedro as well. Many of them like to take photographs at this beautiful place.

Dambakola Patuna

A text saying, "Lankeshwara Narendra, uttering merry words, got in to water with the people belonging to 16 different castes, bearing the maha bodhi on his head…" can be seen near the 'bodhi' at the entrance to Dambakola Patuna. The wonderful white sandy beach with dents in Dambakola Patuna is added more beauty by the bays making their way in to the land. Dambakola Patuna with its beautiful beach is a most suitable for anyone coming from India or any other country to land in and for us Sri Lankans it is an important place as it was here that Theri Sangamiththa landed in with the Sri Maha Bodhi plant. So it wouldn’t be wrong to call Dambakolapatuna the place through where Buddhism came to Sri Lanka.

Keerimali,கீரிமலை

The Keerimalai pond is situated in Keerimalai devala premises. The two ponds known as Keerimalai pond are just a few feet away from the sea but contain fresh water and even more surprisingly the water in these two ponds are blue in colour. There's a belief that it is the wall that separates the ponds from the sea that keeps their water fresh. The word 'Kiramalei' means the mountain of mongoose ('Kira' meaning mongoose and 'Malei' meaning the mountain)

According to the legend, a prince and a princess came to Sri Lanka from India and when they landed here their faces had turned to horse and mongoose faces as the result of a curse of gods. Later the prince's face had become normal again in the place called "Mawattapuram" while the princess' face turned normal after she bathed from the " Keerimalai" pond. The devala was later raised in respect of this miracle. The Hindus venerate this place with great respect and they float the ash of their cremated relatives in the sea near the pond. As they believe that the water in these ponds have the power to rejuvenate the old people and fertilize the infertile people. They venerate the ponds with such respect that some of the devotees can be seen worshipping the water as they get in to water. The Kiramalei pond was last repaired in 1969.

From jaffna out of the town

Kadurugoda temple
Route- if coming from Kiramalei, you have to turn to left from the 'Chunnakam' junction and go toward 'Sankani' to see the 'Kadurugoda' temple which is better known in the area as 'Kandarodei'.
According to the past records, there had been 60 stupas in this temple. The 60 stupas had been built to place the ash of 60 arhath theros from 'Punkudativ'. The Department of Archeology has found 56 of the stupas so far and thus the Kadurugoda temple bears a significant historical importance due to these archeological factors.

The well with no bottom.

The well with no bottom is situated in the Point Pedro- Puthur road and the well is so called because its bottom has not been discovered yet by any. There is a belief that the 'Kiramalei' pond is connected to this well beneath the ground. It is believed so as a lime, put in to this well once, had come up from the Kiramalei pond.

Casuarina beach
The beautiful shallow beach with sand was an extremely popular destination before the war. Paying just Rs 500, you can go on a boat ride in the sea near Casuarina beach.

Few of the places you can visit in Jaffna
Welikandu, Kodikaman kovil, Vallipuram stone inscription, Hanuman kovil are a few of the most popular sites in Jaffna. You can have accommodation facility at the rest house at Naga Viharaya. A single room can be taken at a price between Rs 300 to Rs 500 while a double room can be taken at Rs 750. In addition to that, there are several other places you can select to for accommodation.

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Sri Lanka's Largest Buddha Statue -Kurunegala.

The vidya Sagara Pirivena in Monaragala piriven Viharaya, Rambodagalle,Ridiyagama,Kurunegala had a great big rock that was at the temple.Shasthrapathi Venerable Amaramouli Anunayaka Thero thought of using this great big rock to sculpt an equally large Buddha statue at his temple to replace the Bamian Buddha in Afghanistan.

Sankapala Raja Maha Viharaya-සංඛපාල රජමහා විහාරය

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Sankapala Raja Maha Viharaya is an ancient temple situated in Pallebedda in Rathnapura district.

The history of this temple expands to Anuradhapura era. During the period of king Dutugamunu this temple has been built by the giant Pussadeva. The giant Pussadeva is one of the great ten giants (Dasamahayodayo), who was awarded a Gamvara by the king after the war. That was the Pallebedda Gamvara. Later the giant Pussadeva built a temple in Pallebedda and offered it to Buddha shasana, which is Sankapala Viharaya. This history has been revealed by a stone pillar erected in the temple.

Later during the Kandian era a Buddhist monk named Karathota Dhammarama was offered with this temple. That was during the period of king Rajadhi Rajasinghe. But due to a dispute aroused between the king and the monk, the monk was taken into custody and kept under house arrest. At that time the monk Karathota Dhammarama wrote a 'Harasa Kawya' (a peice of poetry which includes 12 poems in one poem which is written in a circular shape) to show his intelligence. Afterwards king begun to respect the monk evenmore and monk was offered the Gamvara again by the king.

This temple includes a Sathsathi Vihara Mandira which has two Buddha statues in sitting posture and an ancient Buddha statue in standing posture. All of these statues have similarities to the statues of Kandian era. And the paintings on walls of the Viharaya, which were painted with indigenous material, also resembles Kandian era.

Apart from Sathsathi vihara mandiraya there is another shrine room in the middle of the temple, which is called 'Maha Viharaya'. This shrine room also consists of several Buddha statues as well as two statues of God Katharagama and God Vishnu.

This is an ancient temple, which should be preserved and which must be seen by you despite religious differences.-Dilan Dharshana
රත්නපුර සිට ඇඹිලිපිටිය දෙසට ගමන් කරද්දී කොළඹගෙආර ප‍්‍රදේශයේදී කුඹුක් සෙවණට ඉහළින් හුදකලා කඳුවැටියක් අසල අපේ නෙත ගැටෙන සංඛපාල රජමහා විහාරය දිගු ඉතිහාසයක් ඇති අප යා යුතුම තැනකි. මෙය දුටුගැමුණු රජතුමාගේ දස මහ යෝධයන්ගෙන් කෙනෙකු වන පුස්සදේව යෝධයා විසින් සසුනට පරිත්‍යාග කළ මහා පිංකමක සාධකයකි. පසුව පුස්සදේව රහතන් වහන්සේ බවට පත් වූ පුස්සදේව යෝධයාගේ සොහොන ද ඒ අසලම තවමත් අපට දැකිය හැකිය. එමෙන්ම අනුරාධපුර යුගයේ සිට නුවර දයුගය දක්වා විශ්මය දනවන බොහෝ දෑ ද, ගල් ලෙන් ද, හක්ගෙඩි ගළ ද එහි යන්නවුන්ගේ නෙත් සිත් පිනවයි

Hulan Nuge -හුලන් නුගේ-ஹுலன் னுகே

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Hulan Nuge Tharulengala Raja Maha Viharaya is situated in Lahugala Divisional secretariat area in Ampara district in Southern province.The history of this temple extends beyond 2300 B.C. The Buddha statue depicting sleeping posture situated in this temple is the oldest Buddha statue in Sri Lanka(Pidurangala is the first Buddha statue). There are five Buddha statues in Eastern province. But this Buddha statue has a special significance. That is though all other statues are facing either northern or western direction the Tharulengala statue faces eastern direction.Thus when sun rises the light beams of the sun falls directly on the face of the Buddha statue. Apart from the statue it has been revealed that this temple consists of paintings from prehistoric era. Many rock caves are situated in Tharulengala temple. The longest cave (720 ft)in south Asia is among them. Other than these caves 3 pillars which has ancient letters have been found. In accordance with one of them this temple has been built by king Kavanthissa. -Dilan Dharshana-

හුලං නුගේඅම්පාර දිස්ති‍්‍රක්කයේ ලාහුගල මැතිවරණ කොට්ඨාසයේ ලාහුගල ජාතික වනෝද්‍යානය අසබඩ පිහිටි මේ සුන්දර හුදකලා කඳුවැටිය ඓතිහාසික සහ පාරිසරික වැදගත්කම්වලින් අනූන තැනකි. දකුණු ආසියාවේ දිගම කටාරන් කෙටූ ගල් ලෙනත්, ශී‍්‍ර ලංකාවේ දෙවැනියට ඉපැරණිම පිළිම වහන්සේත් මෙහි ඇති සුවිශේෂිත්වයන්ය. හුලං නුගේ කඳුවැටිය මුදුනේ ඇති ආකාස ෙඓත්‍යය අසල සිට නැෙ`ගනහිර පළාතේ ඈත පොතුවිල් මුහුදු තීරයත් අනෙක් පසින් ඌව පළාතේ නමුනුකුල කඳුවැටියත් හතර වටේ ලාහුගල වනෝද්‍යානයේ සහ සුන්දර හුලං නුගේ කෙත් යායේ නෙත් පහසත් විදිමින් වරුවක් ගත කරන්න හුලං නුගේ යන්න. සිවුවරු මුල්ලේ ලොකු හාමුදුරුවන් ඔබව සතුටින් පිළිගන්න බලා සිටින බව නිසැකයි
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sri padaya -සමනල ගමන-රත්නපුර පාර-Rathnapura Rd

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සමනල ගමන “....... ලොකානු කම්පා ඇත්තා වූ ලොකනායක වූ සව¢ඥතෙම එතැන්හි ධර්ම දේශනා කොට අහසින් නැගී (වැඩ) සමන්කුළු මතුයෙහි පා සටහන දැක් වූ සේක. 05 පිටුව මහාවංශය පොල්වත්තේ බුද්ධ දත්ත නාහිමියන්ගේ සංස්කරණ මහාවංශයෙහි (1954) පාද ලාංඡනය පිහිටුවීම මෙසේ දැක්වෙයි. “බුදුරජාණන්වහන්සේ කැලණියේ සිට සමන්ත කූඨයට වැඩ සුමන සමන් දෙවියන් ගේ ආරාධනය පරිදි එහි වූ ඉන්ද්‍රනීල මාණික්‍යයක් මත පාද ලාංඡනය පිහිටුවා වදාළහ. ඒ වම් පාද ලාංඡනයයි. එය, තත්ථ ධම්මං දෙසයිත්වා - සත්ථා ලොකානුකම්පනෝ උග්ගන්ත්වා සුමනේ කූටේ - පදං දස්සේහි නායකො යනුවෙන් දැක්වේ. .Adam's Peak (also Adam's Mount; Sinhalese Samanalakanda "butterfly mountain", Tamil Sivanolipatha Malai), is a 2,243 metres (7,359 ft) tall conical mountain located in central Sri Lanka. It is well-known for the Sri Pada "sacred footprint", a 1.8 m rock formation near the summit, in Buddhist tradition held to be the footprint of Buddha, in Hindu tradition that of Shiva and in Muslim tradition that of Adam.

Maligathanna - මාලිගාතැන්න

Maligathanna - මාලිගාතැන්න