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Image courtesy of Dr. Ashan Geeganage
The ruins of Veheragoda lie on a rock plateau close to Uhana in Ampara District. Ancient ruins of a temple complex lie in an area of about 10 acres surrounding this rock. Ven Ellawala Thero describes the dilapidated stupa on the rock as a 10 feet high mound with a circumference of about 75 feet.
From the pit dug at the top of the stupa by treasure hunters it had been observed that the stupa had been constructed using a mix of stone rubble and bricks. Similar work can also be seen in Buddhangala and Rajagala. This has been a common practice in constructing stupas in the pre-Christian era. Four stone flower pedestals lie on the four sides of the stupa.
But today, the temple has been revived and a new stupa has been built enclosing the ancient stupa which had been just a mound of earth vandalized by treasure hunters.
Ruins of another smaller stupa which had faced the same fate lie undisturbed close by. Among the ruins, six stone pillars which probably consisted of the image house, slabs carved with the footprint of Buddha and an 8×3.5 feet granite Asanagara ( seat of Buddha) and remnants of a stone wall are prominent. Asanagara was an object of worship at the earliest times before Buddha statues were built. The existence of these slabs provides proof that this temple complex had existed hundreds of years before the Christian era.
Ruins found at this temple have been declared a protected archaeological site by the Government with the Gazette issued on 10th October 2014, and describes the location as follows ;
“Rock plane with a hillock of Chaithya, ruins of a shrine and base pockets of pillars at the premises of Ancient Gale Vihara belonging to Weeragoda village situated in Grama Niladhari Division No. W/93C/4-220, Weeragoda North in the Divisional Secretary’s Division Uhana in Ampara District in Eastern Province. (Latitude 07º22´ 48.7´´ N and longitude 081º41´ 29.9´´ E)”
Today this new temple is known as the Vajiraramaya Viharaya.
References
- Ellāvala Medhānanda, 2005. The Sinhala Buddhist heritage in the East and the North of Shri [i.e. Sri] Lanka. 1st ed. Colombo: Dayawansa Jayakody & Co.
Also See
Map of Ampara Veheragoda Ruins
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Travel Directions to Ampara Veheragoda Ruins
| Route from Ampara to Veheragoda Ruins |
| Distance : 20 km Travel time : 30 minutes Driving directions : see on google map |
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