Kithulpe Ranpathge Viharaya

Kithulpe Ranpathge Purana Rajamaha Viharaya (Sinhala: කිතුල්පේ රන්පත්ගේ පුරාණ විහාරය) is a Buddhist temple situated in Kithulpe village in Nuwara Eliya District, Sri Lanka.

An old Bodhi tree, a Stupa and an image house are found in the temple premises (Wijesinghe, 2015). Of them, the image house preserves a valuable collection of sculptures and murals of the ancient art tradition of the Kandyan Period. The Buddhist year 2458 [the Saka year 1837 (1915 A.D.)] which is mentioned above the entrance door of the image house is most likely the year it was built or renovated.

The sacred Tooth Relic of the Buddha is said to have been kept safely at this temple when the British troops attacked Kandy in 1803 (Dasanayaka, 2018; Wijesinghe, 2015).

References
1) Dasanayaka, R., 2018. Ambalama saha samajaya (In Sinhala). S. Godage & Brothers.  p.63.
2) Wijesinghe, T.K., 2015. Pauranika Sthana Saha Smaraka: Nuwara Eliya Distrikkaya (In Sinhala). Department of Archaeology (Sri Lanka). ISBN: 955-9159-36-4. pp.38-40.

Location Map
This page was last updated on 5 July 2022
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