Kiralagala Archaeological Site

Kiralagala is a ruined Buddhist monastery from the Anuradhapura period, featuring a stupa, pond, image houses, and inscriptions over a 12-acre area.
Kiralagala Archaeological Site
Kiralagala Archaeological Site

Kiralagala Archaeological Site (Sinhala: කිරලගල පුරාවිද්‍යා ස්ථානය) is a ruined Buddhist monastery situated on the wayside of Medawachchiya-Horowpathana road, about 6.8 km distance from Horowpothana town. The site is known in ancient times as Veherabendigala (IEE, 2019).

The monastery complex consists of the ruins of an ancient forest monastery belonging to the early Anuradhapura Period (IEE, 2019). The ruins include a large artificial pond, a Stupa, a Bodhigarara, image houses, a Janthaghara, monk residencies, meditation paths and other buildings (IEE, 2019). Also, a rock inscription belonging to the 2nd century A.D. has been discovered at this site (Nicholas, 1963). The inscription which consists of 8 lines of writings records a catalogue of fields in which a Karisa each belonged to the ancient monastery at the site, of which the name is not given (Muller, 1883; Nicholas, 1963; Paranavitana, 2001).

You may want to read this post:

Presently, the ruins of the monastery complex cover an area of about 12 acres (IEE, 2019).

Kiralagala Archaeological Site

Related Posts

Read Also

References

Books, Government Gazette Notifications, Journal Articles

1) IEE, 2019. Initial Environmental Examination. Rehabilitation and Improvement of road section from 10km to 37.8km of Medawachchiya - Horowpathana (B282) Road. Environmental and Social Development Division, Road Development Authority, Ministry of Highways and Road Development. p.31.
2) Muller, E., 1883. Ancient Inscriptions in Ceylon. London. pp.40,76.
3) Nicholas, C. W., 1963. Historical topography of ancient and medieval Ceylon. Journal of the Ceylon Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, New Series (Vol VI). Special Number: Colombo. Royal Asiatic Society (Ceylon Branch). p.155.
4) Paranavitana, S., 2001 (Edited by Dias, M.). Inscriptions of Ceylon: Vol. II. Part II. Archaeological Survey Department, Sri Lanka. pp.238-239.

Location Map

Dynamic Google Map

Attribution

To Whom

LankaPradeepa.com extends its gratitude to Malsha M. Ranasinghe for providing the necessary photographs required for this article. All the photos are published here with the permission of the author.

Post a Comment

Cookie Consent
We serve cookies on this site to analyze traffic, remember your preferences, and optimize your experience.
Oops!
It seems there is something wrong with your internet connection. Please connect to the internet and start browsing again.
AdBlock Detected!
We have detected that you are using adblocking plugin in your browser.
The revenue we earn by the advertisements is used to manage this website, we request you to whitelist our website in your adblocking plugin.
Site is Blocked
Sorry! This site is not available in your country.