Vipashyaramaya, also known as Puwakpitiya Temple (Sinhala: මහරගම විපශ්යාරාමය, පුවක්පිටිය විහාරය), is a Buddhist temple situated in Maharagama in Colombo District, Sri Lanka.
History
This temple is said to have been established by a Buddhist monk named Bogoda Vipassi Thera during the period of the 1818 Uva-Wellassa rebellion (Rajapakshe et al., 2018).
The image house
The old image house is the main attraction of this temple with archaeological value. It consists of two parts; the inner section and the outer section (Rajapakshe et al., 2018). The outer section can be entered through two entrances and another two entrances have been provided after them in order to enter into the inner section. The front wall of the inner section has been decorated with paintings and sculptures belonging to the low-country style of the latter Kandyan Period (Rajapakshe et al., 2018). In the inner section, three seated and two standing Buddha statues are found.
A protected site
The old Vihara-geya (image house) of Vipashyarama Viharaya, situated in Watte Gedara in the Divisional Secretary’s Division of Maharagama is an archaeological protected monument, declared by a government gazette notification published on 8 July 2005.
Photo credit: Google Street View
References
1) Rajapakshe, S.; Bandara, T. M. C.; Vanninayake, R. M. B. T. A. B. (Editors), 2018. Puravidya Sthana Namavaliya: Kolamba Distrikkaya (In Sinhala). Vol. I. Department of Archaeology (Sri Lanka). ISBN: 978-955-7457-19-2. pp.52-53.
2) The Gazette of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. No: 1401. 8 July 2005.
2) The Gazette of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. No: 1401. 8 July 2005.
Location Map
This page was last updated on 11 June 2023
