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Photo By : Ravi Pieris
Podape Tampita Viharaya lies at the Podape Rajamaha Viharaya which is an ancient temple hidden away in a remote area known as Gurugallena between Aranayake and Bulathkohupitiya in the Kegalle District. To reach the temple you need to take the road towards Aranayake from Mawanella and travel 13.5 km up to Aranayake and a further 1.5 km towards Dolosbage up to the Kongahamula Junction. From here take the lane to the left to reach the temple.
One of the unique features a visitor could observe today at this temple is the Tampita Vihara Ge in the temple. Tampita Vihara was a popular architectural feature of temples during the Kandyan era. The temple is built on top of granite stumps with a wooden platform laid across the stumps.
Here, no balustrade is built around the image house as in some other Tampita Vihara. Statues inside the image house belong to the Kandyan era. You will also find a rock inscription at this site which records land donations to the temple. 3 feet long and 2 feet wide near the Bo tree.
ශ්රී බුධ වර්ෂයෙං දෙදාස්තුංසි
ය හාවුරුද්දට පැමිණි වර්ෂයෙ
හිදී දාගබ් මහ බෝ ශ්රී පාද ප්රති
මා ගෘහ උපොසථාගාරාදියෙං
පොඩාපේ මුදියංසෙලාගෙ ඉන්දජොති
භික්ෂුවට සඨා වන්තයං එක්ව පුදමුව
HCP Bell records that this inscription describes a land grant to the temple by a group of pieties in the year 1763.
The Tampita Viharaya is fairly dilapidated. The structure is built on 10 stone pillars of 2 1/2 feet high. Due to damage, some parts of the floor is cemented and the planks of the outer path have already decayed.
The main seated Buddha statue is 2 1/2 feet in height. It features a headdress (siraspatha) designed similar to five fingers and the robe draped with with waves as in water. This statue lies underneath an elaborate Makara Thorana (dragon’s arch). Two standing Buddha statues stand facing each other on the side walls. They are about 4 feet in height.
References
- කෑගලු කෝරළ පවත : පරණකුරු, කිණිගොඩ සහ ගල්බඩ කෝරළයන්හි ඓතිහාසික, සංස්කෘතික සහ පුරාවිද්යාත්මක ගවේෂණය – එම්. ඩී. එම්. එස්. යටවර
Also See
- Tampita Vihara of Sri Lanka Index
- Ancient Heritage Sites of Sri Lanka
- Other Places of Interest Within Close Proximity
Map of Podape Purana Tampita Viharaya
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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Traveling Directions to Podape Purana Tampita Viharaya
| Route from Mawanella to Nilwakka Sri Bodhirukkarama Purana Tampita Viharaya |
| Distance :16 km Travel time : 45 mins Driving directions : see on google map |
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