Kandy Visnu Devalaya
Kandy Visnu Devalaya , also known as Maha Devalaya (Sinhala: මහනුවර විෂ්ණු දේවාලය), is a Devalaya Shrine situated within the premises of the Temple of the Tooth Relic in Kandy town in Sri Lanka. It has been dedicated to the God Vishnu, one of the deities of the Sri Lankan Buddhist pantheon. History Although the history of the Vishnu Devalaya at Kandy is obscure, Robert Knox (1641-1720 A.D.), an English sea captain who lived in Sri Lanka for 19 years as a captive of King Rajasinghe II (1635-1687 A.D.) makes references to the deity of this temple (Seneviratna, 1983). He called the deity as Alut Nuwara Deviyo indicating that the god was originally residing in Alut Nuwara in Kegalle District (Seneviratna, 1983). The 19th-century poetical work named Ehelapola Varnanawa mentions this temple by the name of Rama Devalaya (Seneviratna, 1983). According to folklore, the blue-coloured deity Upulvan (or Rama?) who was venerated at Devundara Devalaya was brought to Alut Nuwara and later came to be k…