Be the first to rate
Loading...
Travelling along the Puttlam Anuradhapura road passing Tabbowa Wewa and 3 more kilometres along this route, you will come across a road to the right. Take this road for a kilometre to reach these forgotten ruins. This road runs across the ancient holy ground bisecting the area. The ruins lie along the road on both sides. But these ruins have never been methodically studied and are covered with shrub jungle and are barely visible.
3 rock pillars and part of a retaining brick wall can be seen near the road. There are ruins of an ancient Stupa dug and destroyed by treasure hunters east of these ruins. The remains of this stupa are about 6-7 feet high. Towards the northeast of this stupa, remains of a larger stupa which has faced the same fate can be seen. Broken-up pieces of granite flower altar, parts of massive 2-foot wide rock pillars and other carved pieces of rock can be found spread around this stupa indicating a large Aramaic complex in the region.
More ruins can be found on the right side of the road. Remains of a stupa or building with the centre excavated to 2-3 feet depth can be found inside the shrubs. The bottom is found to be covered in a type of reddish pebbles which is not found in this region. A little away into the jungle is another stupa restored by the archaeology department some time ago. The stupa lies on the pedestal and a large number of ruins around this stupa can also be seen.
Several semi-circular stone slabs are scattered around this stupa without any indication of what these have been used for. Whether they constituted part of the Stupa or a different building cannot be judged. Some of the stones have the inside smoothed and some outside indicating that these rocks have been used for multiple purposes or the same material has been re-used for multiple purposes during different periods.
This area is also scattered with foundation stones, bricks and tiles indicating more buildings which existed around this Stupa.
No formal archaeological study has been done on this site so far. The bricks on this site are said to be similar to what is found in the Anuradhapura ruins. It is also only 25km to Thonigala (Tonigala), 25 km to Wilandagoda and 60 km to Anuradhapura. Therefore it could be assumed that these ruins belong to the Anuradhapura Era.
ඊ.ජී. නන්දන පද්මකුමාර
බී.ඒ. පුරාවිද්යා
www.mawbima.lk
Update ( December 2015)
To reach the ruins of Erabadugaswewa, you need to travel 2.2 km from the Karuwalagaswewa junction towards Anuradhapura. A standard archaeology department board which only half remains lies at the turn-off to the ruins. Turn right and take this gravel road for 1.7 km to reach the ruined site. This area belongs to Tabbowa Wildlife Sanctuary. What you can see today is only a few granite pillars close to the gravel road. The ruins once cleared have been encroached by the thick jungle once again and with fresh elephant dung all around, I wasn’t ready to trek into the forest in search of the balanced ruins.
Going past the ruins for another 1 km or so you will come across a jungle hideout called Tabbowa Eco Village.
Also See
Map of the Ruins at Erabadugaswewa
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
Zoom out the map to see more surrounding locations using the mouse scroll wheel or map controls.
Driving Directions to Ruins at Erabadugaswewa
| Route from Colombo to Ruins at Erabadugaswewa |
| Through : Negombo – Puttlam Distance : 155 km Travel time : 3 hours Driving directions : see on google map |
0-09 m (80) 10-19 m (69) 20-29 m (42) 30-39 m (47) 40-49 m (23) 50-99 m (43) Ambalama (152) Ancient Anicuts (31) Ashtapala Bodhi (5) Attraction Article (3) Attractions (197) Beaches (6) Botanical Gardens (3) Bridges (34) Caving (4) Church (6) Cities (9) Destinations (16) Dethis Pala Bodhi (15) Devalaya (41) Flora and Fauna (43) Forts (48) Heritage (1603) Heritage Article (28) Historic Events (5) History (7) Hot Springs (9) Hydro Heritage (84) Irrigation Article (4) Islands (15) Kovil (25) Lighthouses (27) Memorials (28) Mile Posts (6) Museums (8) National Parks (22) over 100 m (15) Pabbatha Vihara (10) Personalities (7) Pillar/Slab Inscriptions (35) Pre Historic Burial Sites (18) Prehistory (37) Ravana (12) Reservoirs (44) Ruins in Wilpattu (5) Ruins in Yala (24) Santuaries (7) Sluice Gates (10) Stone Bridges (18) Survey Towers (13) Tampita Vihara (238) Travel (3) View Points (9) Walawwa (12) Waterfalls (375) Wildlife Article (24) Yathuru Pokuna (4)
Abhayagiri Monastery (19) Ampara District (191) Anuradhapura District (186) Avissawella (4) Badulla (2) Badulla District (105) Batticaloa District (19) Buttala (2) Colombo (5) Colombo District (62) Dambulla (4) Delft (5) Galle (1) Galle District (55) Gampaha District (37) Hambantota (4) Hambantota District (96) India (1) Jaffna (7) Jaffna District (54) Kalutara District (46) Kandy District (172) Kegalle District (129) Kilinochchi District (9) Kingdom of Anuradhapura (80) Kingdom of Kandy (14) Kingdom of Kotte (9) Kingdom of Polonnaruwa (55) Kurunegala (5) Kurunegala District (94) Maha Vihara (14) Mannar District (47) Mannar Island (10) Matale (3) Matale District (63) Matara District (26) Mihintale (22) Monaragala (5) Monaragala District (70) Mullaitivu District (19) Nuwara Eliya (7) Nuwara Eliya District (107) Panama (1) Polonnaruwa District (107) Puttalam District (24) RAMSAR site (2) Ratnapura (4) Ratnapura District (142) Tissamaharama (2) Trincomalee (7) Trincomalee District (43) Vavuniya District (27) waterfalls in Sinharaja (3) Wellawaya (6)