Sri Sudharmarama Maha Viharaya – Etambagaskada (ඇටඹගස්කඩ ශ්‍රී සුධර්මාරාම මහා විහාරය)

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The are number of villages by the name of Etambagaskada  but the Sri Sudharmarama Maha Viharaya lies in Etambagaskada in Vavuniya district. It is said that the jungles of Etambagaskada are scattered with Buddhist ruins only known to old villagers and during the war, most of them have been destroyed by the Tamil LTTE Terrorists and whatever escaped the terrorists by relic hunters after the war. Unfortunately even upto today, These sites are being plundered freely by various groups.

Etambagaskada Sri Sudharmarama Maha Viharaya is an rather new temple built on an ancient Buddhist site near the Etambagaskada Reservoir. The temple has been built by ven. Ehetuwawe Saddhathissa Thero in 1941 with great difficulties and survived the LTTE era with the support of the Sri Lankan Army.

The unique inscription stone in display at the Sri Sudharmarama Maha Viharaya - Etambagaskada
The unique inscription stone in display at the Sri Sudharmarama Maha Viharaya – Etambagaskada
Photo By Harsha Soysa

Three archaeological pieces kept inside the Sri Sudharmarama Maha Viharaya deserve mention. There is a Foot Print slab (Siri Pathul Gala), Buddha in meditation and a slab inscription. This Siripathula Gala is 1′.10″ x 1′.10″ in size and its toe prints too are not prominent.

Although there is nothing much of antiquity, the unique inscription stone at the temple has been discovered from the Etambagaskada  Reservoir. This is about 4 feet in height and 15 inches wide. The inscription is made on five lines with deep crevices cut to separate lines. At the top of the inscription is a carving of a dog carrying something in its mouth.

According to historian Medhananda Thero, the inscription is wasted but shows characters of the 7th or 8th century. but it states the produce from the land within the hearing distance of a drummers (hevisi) sound belongs to a Meheni Aramaya called Mahinda and any person violating this decree will be reborn as a dog or a crow. Since this was found at the reservoir, it may be that the the reservoir was donated to the Meheni Aramaya which was located at this site.

References

  • වීරසිංහ එස්. පී. එස්. (2014) අපේ වැව්නියාව – වව්නියා දිස්ත්‍රික්කයේ සිංහලයන්ගේ පුවත. කොළඹ, ශ්‍රී ලංකාව: විසිදුණු ප්‍රකාශකයෝ.
  • Medhananda, E. (2005) The Sinhala Buddhist Heritage in the East and the North of Shri [i.e. Sri] Lanka. Colombo, Sri Lanka: Dayawansa Jayakody & Company.

Also See

Map of Etambagaskada  Sri Sudharmarama Maha 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 Etambagaskada  Sri Sudharmarama Maha Viharaya

Route from Anuradhapura up to Etambagaskada  Sri Sudharmarama Maha Viharaya
Distance : 7 km
Travel time : 20 mins
Driving directions : see on google map

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