Abhayagiriya Alms-Hall Abhayagiriya Main Alms-Hall or The Main Refectory of Abhayagiriya (Sinhala: අභයගිරිය ප්රධාන දාන ශාලාව, බත් ගේ) is a ruined building located in the ancient monastery premises of Abhayagiriya in Anuradhapura District, Sri Lanka. It was the place where the daily alms were provided for the monks who lived in the monastery. History
Remains of four phases of construction from the 1st century B.C. have been identified from the building premises. The Chinese monk Fa-Hsien who came to Sri Lanka in the 5th century A.D. (probably in 411-413 A.D.) records that there were 5000 monks resided in the Abhayagiri monastery during his time (Jayasuriya, 2016; Nicholas, 1963). The large stone trough ( Bat-Oruwa) which is found to the east of the refectory exceeds the capacity of 5000 alms bowls and therefore, it could hold sufficient rise for such a number of monks (Jayasuriya, 2016; Wikramagamage, 2004). Stone troughs similar to this have also been found from the alms halls at Inner City , Jetavanaramaya …
