Karangoda Pothgul Viharaya

Pothgul Raja Maha Len Viharaya (Sinhala: කරන්ගොඩ පොත්ගුල් රජ මහා විහාරය) is a Buddhist temple situated in Karangoda village in Ratnapura District, Sri Lanka. History The local tradition holds the view that this is one of the temples built by King Valagamba [(103,89-77 B.C.) Abeyawardana, 2002]. Later King Kirti Sri Rajasinghe (1747-1782 A.D.) of the Kandyan Period renovated the temple (Abeyawardana, 2002). Two cave temples belonging to these two periods are found in the temple premises (Abeyawardana, 2002). The temple is called "Potgul" which means the "library" or the "book store" (Abeyawardana, 2002). The Tripitaka and its commentaries (the Buddhist canon) penned at Matale Alu Viharaya in the 1st century B.C. is believed to have been re-recorded at this temple and distributed to other temples in the area. The temple There is a reclining Buddha statue in the shrine room. Carved out of living rock, the statue is about 40 ft. long (Abeyawardana, 2002). A Stup…