Siva Devale No. 4 (Sinhala: ශිව දේවාලය අංක 4) is a ruined Hindu temple situated on the wayside of the Minneriya-Topawewa road near the bank of Parakrama Samudraya Reservoir in the Ancient City of Polonnaruwa, Sri Lanka.
History
The construction date or the builder of this shrine is not known. However, it is believed to have been constructed during the Cola Period of Sri Lanka (1017-1070 A.D.) or in the 13th century.
The temple
The brick-built temple consists of three subordinate shrines and is surrounded by a brick wall about 2-4 ft. thick (Pathmanathan, 1999). The main entrance porch to the shrine was located towards the east and two sub-entrances without porches also had given access to the shrine through its southern and back walls (Pathmanathan, 1999). The central shrine stands back about 20 ft. in line with the entrance porch (Pathmanathan, 1999).
The Mandapam of the shrine is 22 ft. in length and 18 ft. 6 in. in width and had a roof supported by eight stone pillars 6 ft. in height (Pathmanathan, 1999). The Garbha-griha (sanctum) was 13 ft. 6 in. square exteriorly and the Lingam and its pedestal were set up in the centre of its floor (Pathmanathan, 1999). There were three subsidiary shrines behind the sanctum, which are situated near the west wall of the temenos enclosure (Pathmanathan, 1999).
Two other shrines dedicated to Goddess Kali (Kali Devale) and God Visnu (Visnu Devale No. 3) are found in the vicinity of this shrine.
See also
Attribution
1) LankaPradeepa.com would like to thank Mohan Lakshitha for providing the necessary photographs required for this article. All the photos are published here with the permission of the author.
References
1) Pathmanathan, S., 1999. Temples of Siva in Sri Lanka. Chinmaya Mission of Sri Lanka. ISBN: 955-8320-00-5. pp.103-105.
Explore Other Nearby Attractions
Location Map (Google)
This page was last updated on 3 May 2023