Gilimale Rankoth Viharaya
Not to be confused with Polonnaruwa Rankoth Vehera & Panadura Rankoth Viharaya Sri Rankoth Raja Maha Viharaya (Sinhala: ගිලීමලේ ශ්රී රන්කොත් රජමහා විහාරය) is a Buddhist temple situated in Gilimale in Ratnapura District, Sri Lanka. History A slab inscription discovered from this temple reveals that King Vijayabahu I (1055-1110 A.D.) had taken this route to reach Sri Pada Mountain (Abeyawardana, 2002; Ranawella, 2007). Several ancient monuments and artefacts such as the remains of the old Stupa , stone pillars, Moonstones , grinding and lavatory stones have been unearthed from this site (Abeyawardana, 2002). The modern image house of the temple has been built in 2456 B.E. [(1912 A.D.) Abeyawardana, 2002]. Gilimale slab inscription The chronicle Culavamsa mentions that King Vijayabahu I granted Gilimalaya village for the benefit of the pilgrims who went to worship the footprint of the Buddha on the Samantakuta (Sri Pada) mountain and engraved about it on a stone pillar (Ranawella, 2007). It…