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Sudarshanarama Viharaya, Dodangoda |
Dodangoda Sudarshanarama Viharaya (Sinhala: දොඩංගොඩ සුදර්ශනාරාම විහාරය) is a Buddhist temple situated in Dodangoda in Kalutara District, Sri Lanka.
History
By the 19th century, there were no Buddhist temples in the Dodangoda area and people had to go to the Pushparama Viharaya in Malegoda for their religious activities (Priyandana, 2013). Therefore, a new Buddhist temple was established at the present site in Dodangoda under the guidance of a Buddhist monk named Dodangoda Sudassi Thera on 12 August 1855 (Priyandana, 2013). Later, Sudassi Thera handed over the custody of this temple to one of his students named Mawanane Indragupta Thera (Priyandana, 2013).
With the support of local donors such as D.V.W. Kotalawala and K.K.A. Ranaweera, an image house for this temple was begun to construct in 1880 (Priyandana, 2013). In 1911, the preaching hall of the temple was erected (Priyandana, 2013). A Stupa was added to the temple in 1928 (Priyandana, 2013).
Image House
The image house of Sudarshanarama Viharaya is considered the most important monument of the temple as it contains Kandyan mural and sculptures belonging to the second half of the 19th century. It mainly consists of two parts; the old image house and the newly-built outer house. The old image house is 52 ft. long and 45 ft. wide and contains two sections, viz; the inner chamber and the outer chamber (Priyandana, 2013). The inner chamber contains three Buddha statues in the seated, standing and reclining postures. Two entrances provide access to this chamber and a figure of the Queen of Great Britain surrounded by a lion, a unicorn and a royal crown is found over one of these entrances (Priyandana, 2013).
The murals in this old image house have been drew between the period 1881-1882 by a painter of the Kadolgalla Sittara lineage (Priyandana, 2013).
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References
Books
1) Priyandana, W.H.R., 2013. Dodangoda Sri Sudarshanarama Maha Viharaye Bithusithuwam (In Sinhala). An author publication. pp.1-17.
