Gangathilaka Viharaya is a Buddhist temple situated on the bank of Nilwala Ganga in Uda Peekwella. It is the ancient Uggal-bevula of Sandesha poems.
Uda Peekwella Gangathilaka Viharaya G angathilaka Viharaya (Sinhala: උඩුපීක්වැල්ල ගංගාතිලක විහාරය) is a Buddhist temple situated on the southern bank of Nilwala Ganga River in Uda Peekwella village near Matara town in Matara District, Sri Lanka. The temple is the ancient shrine at Uggal-bevula that is mentioned in several Sandesha poems. History The name Peekwella is thought to have come into parlance by combining an English (Peek = mountain) and a Sinhala (Wella = coast) word together (Vanarathana, 1994). Uda Peekwella roughly means the village at the bottom of the mountain near the coast (Vanarathana, 1994). This mountain is mentioned in several Sinhala Sandesha poems such as Thisara (14th century), Mayura (14th century), Parevi ( Kotte Period ) and Kokila (Kotte Period) as Uggala-bevula (Ranaweera, 2015; Vanarathana, 1994). The 95th and 96th canto of the Mayura Sandeshaya records the Bodhi tree at Uggal-bevula shrine (Ranaweera, 2015). Although the ancient shrine at Uggal-bevula was standing on the bank of the Nilwala Gang…
