Yathurugehuliyadda Viharaya

Yathurugehuliyadda Raja Maha Viharaya is a Buddhist temple located in Mawela village in Nuwara Eliya District, Sri Lanka.

Folklore

According to folklore, this area has been used by Prince Dutugemunu (reigned: ) for the threshing of paddy from the fields cultivated by him at Rajatalawela (Abeywardana, 2004). It is said that the Kulla (winnowing fan) thrown by the prince was fallen on this spot (Abeywardana, 2004). In the paddy farming lexicon, Kulla is called Yathura and therefore, the name of this area, Yathurugehuliyadda, may have some relation with their folklore.

The temple

The present temple consists of a Stupa, an image house, a preaching hall, a Bodh-tree, and monk dwellings. Among them, the image house and the preaching hall are considered as archaeologically important monuments. The image house is thought to be a work belonging to the Kandyan Period (Wijesinghe, 2015). It has been built on an elevated platform and has two sections: the inner shrine and the outer ambulatory. The ambulatory is open but bound with a half-height wall.

The walls of the ambulatory are covered with paintings depicting the Jataka stories and episodes related to hell (Wijesinghe, 2015). The front wall is decorated with sculpted Makara Thorana (the dragon arch) accompanied by the figures of deities, guardians and lions. Above the entrance door, the date 2454 B.E (1910 A.D.) is mentioned. This date may represent its construction or the last restoration date.

The inner shrine also contains paintings and sculptures of the Kandyan style. A Samadhi Buddha statue, a few standing statues, deities such as Visnu, Saman, Kataragama and Dedimunda are found in the shrine room (Wijesinghe, 2015).

Besides the main monuments, a few granite artefacts including a large carved Siri Pathul Gala (the footprint of the Buddha) and granite oil lamps are found in the temple premises.

A protected site

The ancient Buddha shrine, the Dhamma discourse hall and ancient monuments of the Yathurugasu Liyedde Vihara situated in Maswela village in the Grama Niladhari Division of Maswela, in Kotmale Divisional Secretary’s Division are archaeological protected monuments, declared by a government gazette notification published on 6 June 2008.

References

1) Abeywardana, H.A.P., 2004. Heritage of Kandurata: Major natural, cultural and historic sites. Colombo: The Central Bank of Sri Lanka.  p.233.
2) The Gazette of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, no: 1553. 6 June 2008. p.526.
3) Wijesinghe, T.K., 2015. Pauranika Sthana Saha Smaraka: Nuwara Eliya Distrikkaya (In Sinhala). Department of Archaeology (Sri Lanka). ISBN: 955-9159-36-4. pp.64-65.