Hanguranketha Palace
Hanguranketha Palace (Sinhala: හඟුරන්කෙත රජ මාලිගාව) is a royal palace located in the present Hanguranketha town in Nuwara Eliya District, Sri Lanka. History Hanguranketha which is believed to have evolved from the name Sangaruwan-ketha (the field of Sangha) was known in ancient times as Diyatilakapura or Digiliya Nuwara (Abeywardana, 2004). The name Digiliya is mentioned in the Gadaladeniya Rock Inscription of Buvanekabahu IV (1341-1351 A.D.) and it has been identified with the present Hanguranketha town (Abeywardana, 2004). King Senarath (1604-1635 A.D.), as recorded in Rajavaliya , established this town and several later kings including Rajasingha II (1635-1687 A.D.), Sri Vira Parakrama Narendrasinha (1707-1709 A.D) and Sri Vijaya Rajasinha (1739-1747 A.D.) resided in Hanguranketha from time to time (Abeywardana, 2004). The royal residence at Hanguranketha was first built by King Senarath and King Rajasinha II upgraded it to a palace after having fled the capital city of Kandy in the f…