Konduruwapola Rajamaha Tampita Viharaya (කෝඳුරුවාපොල රජමහා ටැම්පිට විහාරය)

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It is said that Konduruwapola is derived from the word Kendurumpola which means that this was a place where secrets were whispered (by the Kings and the ministers). Thus this area would have been a location where the palace officials met the spies in ancient times.

An interesting folklore about this temple is that the king started building an irrigation reservoir called “Masuran Kotte” (see map for the reservoir) in this area before the temple was constructed.

But the dam of the reservoir started to break up after some time and the king was advised to build a temple on the closeby large rock bed and Buddha Statue facing the tank before starting the repair. This temple was built by the Meegasthanne Adikaram as advised and it is said that the dam never broke after that.

The main Image house of the temple is a Tampita Viharaya (a temple on pillars). A Tampita Viharaya is a structure built on a wooden platform that rests on a 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. The walls inside the chamber are more or less always covered in paintings drawn mainly in Kandyan style.

The Tampita Viharaya at the Konduruwapola Rajamaha Viharaya is built upon 11 granite stumps of varying heights to balance the unevenness of the rock plateau. The structure is 23 feet 8 inches long and 18 feet 6 inches wide. The image house is 13 feet 2 inches long and 11 feet wide. since the outer wall of the structure is completely covered, 4 small windows have been built on the rear side of the wall. A dragon arch (Makara Thorana) can be seen at the entrance to the image house. A 7 feet 3 inch high (with pedestal) Samadhi Buddha statue lies at the center of the image house. Sariyuth and Mugalan maha thero can be seen on the sides of the Buddha statue. Two 7-foot-high standing Buddha statues are found on the side walls of the image house. Two statues of Vishnu and Natha can be seen on the outer wall of the image house.

The Tampita Image House (Image house built on stone piles) belonging to the Konduruwapola Raja Maha Viharaya premises situated in No. 1140, Konduruwapola Grama Niladhari Division in the Kuliyapitiya East Divisional Secretary’s Division, Kurunegala District was declared as an protected archaeological monument in 2009.

Primary Source : Koduruwapola Raja Maha Viharaya [sinhala PDF]

References

  • Abeywardana, M.Y. (2009) “The Antiquities Ordinance (Chapter 188) ,” The Gazette of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, 1612, p. 1024.
  • Kalubowila, D. (2005) “රාජසිංහ රජ දවස ඉදිවූ කෝඳුරුවාපොල රාජ මහා විහාරය ,” බුදුසරණ , 30 December.

Also See

Map of Konduruwapola Rajamaha Viharaya

Please click on the button below to load the Dynamic Google Map (ගූගල් සිතියම් පහලින්)
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The map above also shows other places of interest within a approximately 20 km radius of the current site. Click on any of the markers and the info box to take you to information of these sites

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Travel Directions to Konduruwapola Rajamaha Viharaya

The temple belongs to the Kurunegala District. The temple can be reached from the Narammala – Kuliyapitiya main road and turning left from the Ganangamuwa Junction. The distance from this junction to the temple is about 2 km.

Route from Colombo to Konduruwapola Rajamaha ViharayaRoute from Rurunegala to Konduruwapola Rajamaha Viharaya
Though : Pasyala – Giriulla – Dambadeniya
Distance :85 km
Travel time : 2 hours.
Driving directions : see on google map
Though : Narammala
distance :30 km
Travel time : 40 mins
Driving directions : see on google map

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