Kundasale Narendrasinghe Raja Maha Viharaya

The history of this temple can be dated back to the reign of King Vira Parakrama Narendrasinghe (1707-1739 A.D.) of Kandy (De Silva & Chandrasekara, 2009; Senanayaka, 2018). However, according to details given in Kundasale Vihara Sannasa, this temple was established by King Kirti Sri Rajasinghe (1747-1782) in Saka Year 1676 [(1754 A.D.) Abeyawardana, 2004; Ranawella, 2015]. It is said that the king had ordered to build an image house at this place during a visit to the royal park in Kundasale located near the bank of the Mahaweli Ganga river (Abeyawardana, 2004; Ranawella, 2015). He created a red-sandalwood standing image of Buddha plated with gold and a white-sandalwood casket filled with relics to be deposited in this image house (Ranawella, 2015). The completed shrine was bestowed by him to the members of the lineage of pupils of Rev. Anunayaka Dhammarakkhita of Rambukwella in 1754 (Ranawella, 2015).

As described in the Kundasale Vihara Sannasa, the image house built by the king was 11 cubits long, 5 cubits wide and had a front pavilion measuring 9 cubits in length (Ranawella, 2015). The present image house at Kundasale temple is complementary to that description. It has two sections; the main image house building and a drumming hall in front. The main image house building has 16 masonry pillars and the drumming hall has 10 wooden columns (De Silva & Chandrasekara, 2009).

The inner shrine of the image house can be entered through a decorative Makara Thorana (dragon arch). A seated Buddha statue flanked by four standing Buddha images is found inside it. The walls of the shrine room are filled with murals of the Kandyan style (De Silva & Chandrasekara, 2009).

1) Abeyawardana, H.A.P., 2004. Heritage of Kandurata: Major natural, cultural and historic sites. Colombo: The Central Bank of Sri Lanka. p.109.

2) De Silva, N.; Chandrasekara, D.P., 2009. Heritage Buildings of Sri Lanka. Colombo: The National Trust Sri Lanka, ISBN: 978-955-0093-01-4. pp.98,155.

3) Ranawella, S., 2015. Archaeological Survey of Ceylon: Inscriptions of Ceylon: Vol. IX. Department of Archaeology. ISBN: 978-955-9159-98-8. pp.37-41.

4) Senanayaka, P., 2018. Senkadagala Mahanuwara pradeshaye peranima Bauddha Vihara Arama (In Sinhala). Samodhana, The Journal of Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities. Vol.7 (1). pp.55-83.