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Disappearing Archaeological Ruins of Nelukkulam in Vavuniya (වැනසෙන වවුනියාව නෙලුක්කුලම ආරාමයේ නටබුන්)

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The ancient stupa at Nelukkulam has been desecrated by the installation of a lance on a concrete block on the summit of the Stupa.

Nelukkulam (Nelukkulama) town can be reached by travelling 5 km from Vavuniya town on the Vavuniya-Weddikulam road. The threatened Buddhist ruins of Nelukkulam is found at a 4.2km distance from the Vavuniya on this road.

At this site, you find a stupa mound and ruins of 2 buildings. Cyril Mathew, then minister of Industries and Scientific Affairs in 1983 reports that the stupa mound was 30 feet in height and stood on a square platform. The stupa lies close to the road on the left-hand side and its Yupa Stone laid on its slope. It has been dated to the early Anuradhapura period (3rd to 6th century).

A non Buddhist person had removed bricks from this stupa to build a wall of his hut and had placed a lance and a lamp stand on a concrete block on the summit of the mound to worship a Hindu god.

A few meters away from the stupa, there are remains of a structure believed to be an image house that can be seen close to the road. close to it are 3 stone pillars of another ancient building of the ancient Buddhist monastery.

This site was excavated in the late 1970s and it was discovered that the stupa belonged to several eras. The lower part of the octagonal stupa was also found. The work; the length of the octagonal Yupa pillar, proved to be 2.90m long. The length of the north side of the platform of the dagoba is 17.4m and its height is 1. 97m.· Bricks designed in the form of a lotus were found, and there was a special feature about the bricks used for the construction of the dagoba. One corner of a brick (when viewed from above while being placed flat) instead of being a right angle was rather pointed and thus in the form of an acute angle.

The current status of this Archaeological Site is unknown. Note that the location made on Google Maps is approximate. Refer to the above to locate the site.

Bricks of the ancient stupa at Nelukkulam had been used in a wattle and daub hut at the site.

References

Medhānanda, E., 2005. The Sinhala Buddhist heritage in the East and the North of Shri [i.e. Sri] Lanka. 1st ed. Colombo: Dayawansa Jayakody & Co. ,
Mathew, C., 1983. An Appeal to UNESCO to Safeguard and Preserve the Cultural Property in Sri Lanka Endangered by Racial Prejudice, Unlawful Occupation or Wilful Destruction.
De Silva, R. and Karunaratne, W., n.d. Administration report of the archaeological commissioner for the year 1979. 1st ed. Colombo: Department of the Government Printing.
Jayawardhana, S. (2019) in වව්නියාවේ පුරාවිද්‍යා උරුමය . 2nd edn. Kegalle: Self Published, pp. 32–33.

Also See

Map of Archaeological Ruins of Nelukkulam in Vavuniya

Please click on the button below to load the Dynamic Google Map (ගූගල් සිතියම් පහලින්)

Show Location (ගූගල් සිතියම)

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 Archaeological Ruins of Nelukkulam in Vavuniya

Route from Vavuniya to the Archaeological Ruins of Nelukkulam
Though : Distance : 4.2 km Travel time : 10 minutes Driving directions : see on Googl e map

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References

Also See

Map of Archaeological Ruins of Nelukkulam in Vavuniya

Driving Directions to Archaeological Ruins of Nelukkulam in Vavuniya

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