Keragala Padmavathi Pirivena, also known as Keragala Padmavathi Raja Maha Viharaya (Sinhala: කෑරගල පද්මාවතී රජමහා විහාරය), is a Buddhist temple situated in Keragala village in Gampaha District, Sri Lanka. The site can be reached by travelling about 6 km distance from Weliveriya town.
History
As mentioned in the Keragala slab inscription of King Vijayabau V (1335-1341 A.D.), this temple has been erected by Artthanayaka of Dalasengamuwa (modern Dalugama) for the devotional purposes of Padmavathi, the sister of Alagakkonara (Ranawella, 2014). The Alagakkonara in this record was the one who became Prabu Raja (the prime minister) of King Vikramabahu III [(1356-1371 A.D.) De Silva, 1912]. But according to the details given in the inscription, Alagakkonara at
the time was staying with Atthanayaka and therefore it is assumed that the Keragala temple was erected sometime before he became Prabu Raja [(before the commencement of Vikramabahu's reign) De Silva, 1912].
During the Kotte Period, Keragala temple became one of the most popular monastic colleges in the country along with Perakumba Pirivena at Kotte, Sunetradevi Pirivena at Pepiliyana, Vijayaba Pirivena at Totagamuwa and Siri Ganananda Pirivena at Veedagama. This temple is also mentioned as the destination of the messenger of Hamsa Sandeshaya (Manukulasooriya, 1978), Sinhalese poetry written during the reign of King Parakramabahu VIII [(1490-1509 A.D.) Rohanadeera, 2007].
Inscriptions
Two separate inscriptions are found on the temple premises (Rohanadeera, 2007). They have been inscribed on both sides of the same slab and are cut in Sinhalese characters in vogue at the time (De Silva, 1912). Both inscriptions are Gal Sannas which give details about the grants awarded to the Keragala temple.
Keragala slab inscription of Vijayabahu V
This record has been dated to the reign of King Vijayabahu V [(1335-1341 A.D.) Ranawella, 2014].
It reveals that the lands in certain villages including Paragoda, Ambulgama, Kusalangama are the properties belonging to the pupillary lineage of the chief monk Nagasena Thera of Keragala Vihara since the Dambadeniya Period. It further emphasizes that this ownership is to be continued in the future in the same manner.
It
also mentions that the temple was erected by Artthanayaka of
Dalasengamuwa for the devotional purposes of
Padmavathi, the sister of Alagakkonara (Ranawella, 2014).
Reign: King Vijayabahu V
Script: Modern Sinhala
Language: Modern Sinhala
Transcript: <<.. Arthanayaka Dalasengamu Miga(ga)ntaru e taman langa siti Alagakkonara p(a)dayage sahodara buhunaniyan Patmavati venda puda ganna lesata karavu Keragala Vihara..>>
Translation: <<..Keragala Vihara, erected by Artthanayaka Dalasengamu Mi(g)gantaru for the devotions of Padmavati, own sister of Alagakkonara who was staying with him..>>
Reference : Ranawella, 2014.
Script: Modern Sinhala
Language: Modern Sinhala
Transcript: <<.. Arthanayaka Dalasengamu Miga(ga)ntaru e taman langa siti Alagakkonara p(a)dayage sahodara buhunaniyan Patmavati venda puda ganna lesata karavu Keragala Vihara..>>
Translation: <<..Keragala Vihara, erected by Artthanayaka Dalasengamu Mi(g)gantaru for the devotions of Padmavati, own sister of Alagakkonara who was staying with him..>>
Reference : Ranawella, 2014.
Keragala slab inscription of Parakramabahu VIII, 1501 A.D.
This inscription has been dated to the 11th regnal year of King Parakramabahu VIII [(1490-1509 A.D.) Rohanadeera, 2007]. It records a grant executed by Sanhas Tiruvarangam Perumal upon an order issued from the palace at Jayawardhana Kotte in the 11th year of Parakramabahu VIII (Rohanadeera, 2007). The grant describes the boundaries and lands of Keragala Viharaya to be inherited in pupillary lineage from Rajaguru Wanaratana Maha Swamin Vahanse of Keragala (De Silva, 1912). The name of the Keragala Parivenadhipathi (the chief incumbent) Wanarathana Thera is also mentioned in Hamsa Sandeshaya (Wimalasena, 2016).
This inscription has been dated to the 11th regnal year of King Parakramabahu VIII [(1490-1509 A.D.) Rohanadeera, 2007]. It records a grant executed by Sanhas Tiruvarangam Perumal upon an order issued from the palace at Jayawardhana Kotte in the 11th year of Parakramabahu VIII (Rohanadeera, 2007). The grant describes the boundaries and lands of Keragala Viharaya to be inherited in pupillary lineage from Rajaguru Wanaratana Maha Swamin Vahanse of Keragala (De Silva, 1912). The name of the Keragala Parivenadhipathi (the chief incumbent) Wanarathana Thera is also mentioned in Hamsa Sandeshaya (Wimalasena, 2016).
A protected site
The Keragala Raja Maha Viharaya situated in Keragala village is an archaeological protected site, declared by a government gazette notification published on 14 August 1964.
.
References
1) De S. Manukulasooriya, R.C., 1978. Transport in Sri Lanka in Ancient and Medieval times. Journal of the Sri Lanka Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. 24 (1978–79). pp.49-85.
2) De Silva, S., 1912. Inscription at Keragala: Journal of the Ceylon Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (Vol. XXII). pp. 404-410.
2) De Silva, S., 1912. Inscription at Keragala: Journal of the Ceylon Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (Vol. XXII). pp. 404-410.
3) Ranawella, S., 2014. Archaeological Survey of Ceylon: Inscriptions of
Ceylon: Vol. VII. Department of Archaeology. ISBN: 978-955-9159-62-9.
pp.19-21.
4) Rohanadeera, M., 2007. Archaeological Survey of Ceylon: Inscriptions of Ceylon: Vol. VIII. Department of Archaeology. ISBN: 978-955-91-59-64-3. pp.88-91.
5) The Gazette notification, no. 14092, 14 August 1964.
6) Wimalasena, N.A., 2016. Elite Groups, as a factor of Social Change in Fourteenth and Fifteenth Century in Sri Lanka. International Journal of Liberal Arts and Social Science. Vol. 4 No. 3. pp.18-30.
4) Rohanadeera, M., 2007. Archaeological Survey of Ceylon: Inscriptions of Ceylon: Vol. VIII. Department of Archaeology. ISBN: 978-955-91-59-64-3. pp.88-91.
5) The Gazette notification, no. 14092, 14 August 1964.
6) Wimalasena, N.A., 2016. Elite Groups, as a factor of Social Change in Fourteenth and Fifteenth Century in Sri Lanka. International Journal of Liberal Arts and Social Science. Vol. 4 No. 3. pp.18-30.
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This page was last updated on 19 May 2023
A short note in Sinhala
කෑරගල පද්මාවතී පිරිවෙන
කෑරගල පද්මාවතී පිරිවෙන හෝ කෑරගල පද්මාවතී රජමහා විහාරය ශ්රී ලංකාවේ ගම්පහ දිස්ත්රික්කයේ කෑරගල පිහිටි බෞද්ධ සිද්ධස්ථානයකි. 8වන පරාක්රමබාහු රජු (ක්රි.ව. 1490-1509) සමයේ රචනා වූ හංස සන්දේශයෙහි ගමනාන්තය ලෙස දැක්වෙන්නේ මෙම විහාරස්ථානය වේ.
ශිලා ලේඛනඑකම ගල් පුවරුවක දෙපැත්තෙහි කොටවන ලද ශිලා ලේඛන ද්විත්වයක් විහාර පරිශ්රයේදී දැකගත හැකිවේ. සිංහල අක්ෂරයන්ගෙන් සමන්විතවන මෙම ශිලා ලේඛන මගින් කෑරගල විහාරයට සිදුකරන ලද ප්රධානයන් පිළිබඳ තොරතුරු හෙළිදරව් කෙරේ.
5වන විජයබාහු රජුගේ කෑරගල පුවරු ලිපියමෙම ශිලා ලේඛනය 5වන විජයබාහු රාජ්ය සමයට (ක්රි.ව. 1335-1341) කාල නිර්ණය කොට තිබේ. කෑරගල විහාරය සතු පරගොඩ, ඇඹුල්ගම, කුසලාන්ගම ඇතුළු අනෙකුත් ඉඩම්වල අයිතිය දඹදෙණි යුගයේ සිට පැවත එන බවත් ඒවා නාගසේන මහා ස්වාමින් වහන්සේගේ සංඝ පරම්පරාවට අයත් බවත් මෙහි සඳහන් වේ.කෑරගල විහාරය කරවන ලද්දේ දලසෙන්ගමුව අත්තනායක විසින් අලගක්කෝනාරගේ සහෝදරිය වූ පද්මාවතීන්ට වැදපුදා ගැනීමට බව සෙල්ලිපියෙහි වැඩිදුරටත් සඳහන් වේ.
8වන පරාක්රමබාහු රජුගේ කෑරගල පුවරු ලිපිය
මෙම ශිලා ලේඛනය 8වන පරාක්රමබාහු රජුගේ (ක්රි.ව. 1490-1509) 11වන රාජ්ය වර්ෂයට (ක්රි.ව. 1501) කාල නිර්ණය කොට තිබේ. රජුගේ නියෝග පරිදි සන්හස් තිරුවරඟම් පෙරුමාළු විසින් ප්රකාශිත දේපල ප්රධානයක විස්තර මෙම ලේඛනයෙහි අන්තර්ගත කොට ඇත.
පුරාවිද්යා ස්මාරක ස්ථානයකෑරගල පිහිටි පැරණි පද්මාවතී විහාරය, 1964 අගෝස්තු 14 දින ප්රකාශයට පත් රජයේ ගැසට් නිවේදනය මගින් ආරක්ෂිත පුරාවිද්යා ස්මාරක ස්ථානයක් ලෙස නම් කොට ඇත.
