Remains from King Saddhatissa Era

Year and Month	January, 2013
Number of Days	One Day Trip
Crew	4
Accommodation	N/A
Transport	Trishaw
Activities	Archeology, trekking
Weather	Overcast conditions
Route	Iginiyagala -> Namal Oya -> Kadurugoda -> Namal oya -> Kahatagasyaya -> Nella -> Namal Oya -> Iginiyagala -> Padagoda -> Moragahapallama -> Padagoda -> Koknahara(Kethsirigama)-> Pallan oya -> Devalahinda -> Iginiyagala
Tips, Notes and Special remark	Take a bottle of water Do not carry Plastic items (Minimize), Make sure you bring back everything you took. Get permission from the head priest Ask directions from locals Some places require 4WD or trishaws Behave accordingly at hermitages Explain your intentions clearly My main intention is creating awareness; if you want to know more about the place the head priests of these locations will give you a good description when you visit
Related Resources	Pubblication: Digamadulu wandana gamana
Author	Ashan
Comments	Discuss this trip report, provide feedback or make suggestions at Lakdasun Forum on the thread Remains from King Saddhatissa Era

Map 1 – Click Map to Enlarge

Map 2 – Click Map to Enlarge

Kadurugoda ancient site

It was yet again a day with a not so appealing forecast but I just couldn’t stay back in my quarters so this time got together with few of my staff members who were on leave and decided to do a trishaw ride around Iginiyagala. We came to Namal oya junction and waited until Danushka arrived because he was our guide for the first two locations. Our first place of interest Kadurugoda is located at one of the most scenic places one can imagine off. To get to kadurugoda one needs to take the road towards Ambagahawella from Namal oya junction. After passing the newly built Kadurugoda temple the ancient site can be found surrounded by a paddy field. It is a 3km ride from Namal oya. The archaeology site is looked after by department of archeology and there is an ancient pagoda many ruins of buildings and a fallen statue. It seems very similar to ovagiriya in many aspects.

beautiful landscape

namal oya mountains

Kadurugoda peak

searching for breakfast

plenty of these guys

Kadurugoda ruins site surrounded by paddyfields

wonder if this is a yupa stone

wonder what this was

plenty of ruins scattered

a moon stone

another building

a fallen statue

pagoda at kadurugoda

drying up its wet wings

seems like a changeable hawk eagle

Neella archeology site

Next place was Neella which is located close to Uhana on Namal oya Kahatagasyaya road. Nella is an ancient site located at the foot hills of Namal oya. If one wants to reach it there are two routes. One is via Uhana which is about 7km towards Kahatagasyaya. Otherwise one needs to take the Kahatagasyaya road from Namal oya and after passing Kahatagasyaya proceed 2 more kms. The archaeology site is located at a place called Vihara kandiya which is surrounded by plenty of streams. I must say this is another splendid place that one needs to visit. At this site there is a huge pagoda, many buildings in ruins, a broken statue, old lake, a cave with a drip ledge and vedda paintings. The nearby rock inscription is well carved on a rock cube and seems interesting. There is a civil defense post at this location to protect it from treasure hunters.

passing namal oya mountains at kahatagasyaya

Primitive board of department of archaeology

on the way to Neella

splendid path

wow	another beauty

vihara kandura streams

a branch of sri maha bodhiya planted in no mans territory

towards Nella ruins site

remnants of a building

steps with a moon stone

treasure hunters have dug a 10 feet pit

another stream

a korawak stone

pagoda at nella

ruins close to the pagoda

nidan gala

rocks placed on the ancient dam

creepers forming patterns

more ruins

steps towards the cave

more steps

nella cave

bricks

a rock inscription

vedda paintings at neella cave

more paintings

and more

close up

broken statue

Diviyagala Hermitage

After showing us around Namal oya, Danushka had to say good bye to us because of some family commitments. After finishing loitering around Namal oya we returned back to Inginiyagala and took the road which followed the right hand cannel that diverts water from Gal oya. This road goes through Padagoda and ends at Higurana. While we were passing Padagoda we came across the second Cyburn (a canal over another canal) of Iginiyagala area. The road was in very bad condition and the continuous drizzle made things worse somehow we arrived at Moragahapallama and took the road which begins near “Seevali” school. The Diviyagala hermitage is located on top of a rocky hill and one can find a huge rock pond with steps and an inscriptions. And further up there was a huge “Asanagaraya”, few “Chatra” stone suggesting that there was a pagoda in the vicinity once. Though there were few caves we couldn’t visit them due to bad weather but we did climb up to the top to enjoy some gloomy scenery. There was one unique pillar with an interesting carving of a female close to the “bo” tree at this hermitage.

Padagoda lake

Pallag oya flowing over right canal of gal oya google earth image – Click Image to Enlarge

first time i came across this guy

bo tree at diviyagala aranya senasanaya

pillars at diviyagala

Note the carving on the pillar at diviyagala

note the huge asanagaraya and chatra stones at diviyagala

scattered ruins

siri patul gala

view frm diviyagala moragahapallama

higurana as seen from diviyagala

an inscription

ancient pond

an inscription near the pond

steps towards civilization

steps leading out of the pond

drainage from the cannal of jayanthi lake

Kethsirigama Mihindu Hermitage

From Moragahapallama we returned back on Padagoda road and took the Galkanda road via Koknahara. Again this road also was in very bad condition until we reached Koknahara and the road runs parallel to the waterway which diverts water from “Jayanthi lake”. Mihindu hermitage is located at the base of a mountain and is a site with many ruins. There are few drip ledge caves in the forest and only few monks live in these kuti. The ancient pagoda is seen like a mini mountain and close to it they have built a new pagoda with a fleet of ancient steps. There are plenty of pillars in the surrounding area suggesting that there were many buildings at one time and we did come across a statue too. Within the forest patch there are some remnants of the ancient “sakman maluwa”. We were offered afternoon “dane” from the temple which was like medicine to our tired soles.

newly built pagoda at mihindu hermitage

ancient pagoda at Kethsirigama Mihidu hermitage

guard stones

ruins at Kethsirigama Mihidu hermitage

ancient steps

a statue

a cave with treasure

ancient sakman maluwa

a monk in his kutiya

another drip ledge cave

a kutiya close to the canal

forest hermitage

some one has taken treasure

monoliths

tired staff

Pannathgoda Raja Maha Viharaya

From Koknahara we rushed back towards Pallan oya and proceeded towards Inginiyagala. Just after passing the Pallan Oya Bridge there is a road on the left hand side which will lead towards the Pannathgoda temple which is located on hill top. There is an ancient pagoda few ponds remains of a “devalaya”, and few inscriptions in the surrounding area but the most fascinating finding was the granite monument of Sri lanka done during king Saddathissa’s ruling. This temple is believed to be done by king Saddathissa as most of the places we visited on this day; also one can easily enjoy the scenic view of jayanti lake from here. After thanking the head priest we returned back to Inginiyagala at around 4pm to end our one day adventure.