Alawwa Maligagodella Ruins – අලව්ව මාලිගාගොඩැල්ල නටබුන්
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The area known as Maligagodella in Alawwa is a rather unknown site with ruins on a rocky outcrop 3.5km off Alawwa town. The area is scattered with ruins of number of ancient buildings. However due to the lack of any apparent religious artifacts in the ruins, it is thought be a site of a palace of a regional king at some time. Also the name given to this location by the villagers, Maligagodella indicates the same.
The information mentioned of this site is from a research report by the Department of Archaeology (ගවේෂන – 2 කලාපය – වයඹ පලාතේ පුරාවිද්යා ගවේෂන – 1 අදියර විශේෂ කලාපය – පුරාවිද්යා දෙපාර්තුමේන්තුව) published in 2004.
The site lies at the Latitude N 7° 23′ 4” and Longitude E 80° 14′ 30” (7.384444, 80.241667), at a height of 200-300 feet above the sea level. The ruins are located in a valley between two mountains.
The ruins which has been researched has not unearthed any proof of religious buildings and the existing ruins does not follow any known buddhist architectural features. No clue of the period of this palace can be found in any ancient text or from folklore.
Some of the black and red clay pottery found at the site has been dated to period before 2nd century. Further more pottery found at the site has been placed to the periods between 5th to 10th century with most belonging to the 8-9th centuries. One piece of pottery has been potentially dated 2nd century BC.
Most of the ruins are found on the northern side of the rocky outcrop since this side is less steeper than the southern side. Four flight of steps cut in to the rock to the ruined area is found on northern and the southern sides of the rock.
Based on the map below, the steps marked as 1, contains 83 steps to wards the ruins. western steps numbered 12 and 14 contains 7 and 14 steps respectively. West t0 to the number 1 steps you would find a quarry where rock was cut and separated in to pillars and slabs. the holes chipped in to the rock shows how these were separated. Ruins marked as number 5, 9 and 10, 15, 16, 17, 20, 23 and 24 shows ruins of some buildings with scattered kabook foundations still visible.
To reach the site, travel to Wadakada from Polgahawela and take the road towards Ranagala Rajamaha Viharaya. This archaeological site is located very close to this temple.
References
- ගවේෂන – 2 කලාපය – වයඹ පලාතේ පුරාවිද්යා ගවේෂන – 1 අදියර විශේෂ කලාපය – පුරාවිද්යා දෙපාර්තුමේන්තුව
Also See
Map of Alawwa Maligagodella Ruins and Other Places of Interest
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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Driving Directions to Alawwa Maligagodella Ruins
Route from Colombo to Alawwa Maligagodella Ruins | Route from Polgahawela to Alawwa Maligagodella Ruins |
| Though : Katunayake – Divulapitiya – Giriulla – Dambadeniya – Narammala Distance : 94 km Travel time : 2.5 hours Time to spend : 45 mins – 1 hour Driving directions : see on google map | Though : Wadakada Distance : 13 km Travel time : 20 mins + hike Time to spend : 45 mins – 1 hour Driving directions : see on google map |