Edandawala Purana Tampita Viharaya – ඒදන්ඩාවල පුරාණ ටැම්පිට විහාරය

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Edandawala Purana Tampita Viharaya lies in the remote village of Edandawala just 8 km away from Kurunegala. The tample can be reached through Puttalam road or Dambulla road but easiest to from Puttalam road. Travel 5 km upto Gonagana junction (just after passing Saragama reservoir and the Saragama Viharaya across the reservoir) the  on the Puttalam road and take the Tittawella road for 3.5 km to reach the temple opposite a picturesque paddy field.

A Tampita Viharaya is a structure built on a wooden platform which rests on number of stone stumps usually 3-4 feet tall. The roof is held by a structure built of timber and the walls are generally made of wattle and daub. Walls inside the chamber is more or less always covered in paintings drawn mainly in Kandyan style.

The Tampita Viharaya at the Edandawala Purana Viharaya has been built during the Kandyan era and consists of 2 floors. The Image house is built on tall 6-7 feet high granite pillars and a wall is built around the pillars  creating a separate chamber below the image house. Access to the image house is though a stone stairway. A circumambulating path is built around the image house protected by a wooden balustrade. The path is narrow except at the front.

The wall in front at the entrance is completely filled with molds of various figures and designs. A Dragon Arch with 2 lions standing on 2 legs at the bottom has been molded around the door. Six deities, 3 on each side are floating above the arch. Two guardian deities with cobra hoods stands in protection beside the dragons arch.

A seated Buddha image in Samadhi posture lies at the center inside the image house. Statues of Saman and Vishnu deities lie beside the buddha statue. Two standing Buddha statues facing each other are built on opposite walls. In addition, images of Kataragama deity and the king Kirthi Sri Rajashinhe can also be seen inside the temple. The inner walls are covered in murals of arhaths, Solosmaha Stana (sixteen holy places) and scenes from jathaka stories. Fortunately the statues and the murals still maintain its original form.

There is also a very old building in front Tampita Viharaya used as the living quarters by the bikkus. According the chief prelate of the temple Sangaraja Weliwita Sri Saranankara thero (1698-1778) has been living at this quarters for about a year.

The Tampita Image house (built on stone Piles) belonging to the Edandawela Raja Maha Viharaya premises situated in the Edandawela Grama Niladhari Division in the Maspotha Divisional Secretary’s Division, Kurunegala District was declared as an protected archaeological monument in 2009.

References

  1. Anuradha, R.K.S. and Kumari , A.S. (2015) පෞරාණික ස්ථාන හා ස්මාරක – කුරුනෑගල දිස්ත්‍රික්කය. Colombo: Department of Archaeology Sri Lanka.
  2. Abeywardana, M.Y. (2009) “The Antiquities Ordinance (Chapter 188) ,” The Gazette of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, 1612, p. 1023.

Also See

Map of the Edandawala Purana Tampita Viharaya

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Driving Directions to Edandawala Purana Tampita Viharaya

Route from Kurunegala to Edandawala Purana Tampita Viharaya

Though : Mallawapitiya
distance : 8.5   km
Travel time :20 mins
Time to spend : 20-30  mins
Driving directions : see on google map

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