Loitering around Thanthirimale

Places of interest

• Thanthirimale Archeology reserve
• Bharathanaga lena
• Pemaduwa arche site
• Navodagama temple
• Oya maduwa arche site
• Mahavilachchiya lake
• Rajanganaya tank
• Hatthikuchchi arche site

Map around Thantirimale – click to enlarge

Map around Rajanganaya – click to enlarge

When we visited Mannar in 2014 we took the route through Thantirimale and on our way we did note many Black archaeology boards. Since we skipped on Thantirimale during that visit we thought of loitering around Oyamaduwa while the north east monsoons were ending its all island havoc. We knew that Thantirmale was a huge site with an endless rocky plateau so we left home very early and reached Thantirimale at around 6.40am.

Thanthirimale Archaeology reserve
For almost two hours both of us walked around ticking off the list of places of interest in this reserve and we did enjoy this very much because it was early in the morning. Main attractions were the Pagoda, Two Buddha statues, ancient Bo tree, Ruins of ancient buildings, Padanagara, Poth gula, Cave with pre historic paintings, Ponds and the Archaeology museum. There are very well marked direction boards everywhere but yet we missed the rock inscriptions. By the way one should keep away from the rocky ponds because there are Crocodiles in some.
Quote
This temple, which was built in the third century BC has a historical value. When the Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi was brought from India to Sri Lanka, one night along the way to Anuradhapura, the pot containing the sapling was kept at Thanthirimale. It is believed that there was one branch separately grew from the pot, was planted at that village to remember the incident. Hence, some believe that this may be the first Sri Maha Bhodi plant in Sri Lanka. The Bo Tree is placed on top of large stony layer which may protect the tree up to now.

misty oya maduwa

End of the monsoon is the beginning of the dry season and misty morning is the curtain between both

handy map – click to enlarge

beware these guys are found at Thantirimale

just blossomed

more boards

sister bo tree of Sri maha bodhiya

gloomy morning

a snake?

wow

master craft

ප්‍රධාන සඟරාමය

Nelum pokuna

පොත් ගුල

පදානගර

lovely

pagoda

ah searching for the sun to warm up his fur

lovely path

cave with paintings

cave paintings at tantirimale

opposite side of the cave has plenty more

yes there were many

lovely scenery

dont forget to climb the rock near the cave which gives some superb views

Grey-bellied cuckoo

drip ledge

close up

another masterpiece

restored

endless landscape

lake near Thantirimale

Billawa/Millawa Bharathanaga lena
From Thantirimale we started returning back on the same road and few Km’s from Thantirimale we came across a name board to the left directing towards Bharathanaga lena. After a 2Km 4wd ride we reached the hermitage. This place is well developed and there were CSD guys for protection too. There are many caves at this site with inscriptions. In one cave we did find some interesting Vedda paintings too.

new direction boards

this way please

one out of many

with inscriptions

cave paintings

and another

another cave

interesting hooded cave

view from the rock

end of a dance

i do love these

on the way to Pemaduwa

Pemaduwa RMV

After visiting the Billawa site we took off along Oyamaduwa road and at one point there was a board directing towards Pemaduwa. After traveling 5Km’s we reached an ancient temple at a 3 way junction. There was a restored image house and a broken statue at this site.

image house

fallen

done with quartz

bo tree

a guard stone

drainage rock

Mahavilachchiya tank

1Km way from Vilachchiya town there is one of those giant tanks of ancient Anuradhapura. This was initially done by Prince Saliya and restored in 1955. It’s an enormous reservoir and the small detour to visit it was well worth it.

specs of mahavilachchiya

massive reservoir

done by prince Saliya

had to feel the water

a resort close to the lake

Navodagama RMV
From Vilachchiya we returned back to the Oya maduwa road (we also could have taken the straight road from Vilachchiya to Oyamaduwa but we did skip it). After reaching the Thantirimale road we started returning back until we came across another black board. There was a temple right by the side of the road. There were ruins of a Tempiti viharaya, Pagoda and etc. The temple is in very poor state and the only monk is having a hard time to even stay there.

pagoda at navodagama

flower alter

old tempiti viharaya

ruins near the bo tree

desperate

Oyamaduwa Archaeology site

Few hundred meters before Oyamaduwa junction there was another site. At this location ruins of a Tempiti viharaya and a pagoda could be found

oyamaduwa pagoda

another tempiti viharaya

Rajanganaya Tank

It was 11am and we had visited all those sites which we came to see so we had to expand our plans. So we decided to head towards Rajanganaya. After traveling along very bad roads we reached Rajanganaya lake. At that moment it was filled up to the brim. There was a small rocky hill with ancient steps at the edge of the dam and we did climb it to have a bird’s eye view of this masterpiece. On top of it there was a huge pagoda which has been vandalized by many.

Angamuwa tank

bund of angamuwa

Rajanganaya tank

livelihood

sliding down

spilling

steps towards the sthupa

the bund

ancient pagoda

the view

fish eagle

පැල

Hatthikuchchi Archaeology reserve

From Rajanganaya we took the Mahagalkadawala Rd. few Km’s before Mahagalkadawala there was a right hand turn towards Hatthikuchchi. This extensive forest hermitage is one of those sites that you shouldn’t miss in your life time. There is lot to see and the paths seem never-ending. You would be surprised with the dry zone bird life found here too. This hermitage has been modified over the years by many kings and it’s believed that King Siri Sangabo beheaded himself at one of those caves on the hill top. Main attractions are the 40 caves, Poya house, Prathimagaraya, Bodhigaraya, Watadageya and many more ruins. We did manage to get to the top of the hill though it was bit exhausting. After a long walk we did end our day and returned back to Chilaw with some lovely memories.

Quote

The name ‘Hatthikuchchi’ (හත්ථිකුච්චි in Sinhalese) is a pali word meaning ‘Elephant Stomach’ (Hasthi – Elephant, Kuchchi – Stomach). Its closest Sinhalese name is ‘ඇත්කුස් වෙහෙර‘ ‘Eth Kus wehera’ (Eth – Elephant, Kus – Stomach). This name has been given because of a large rock inside the temple complex which resembles an elephant. The Temple complex is considered to have been built by King Devanampiyatissa (307–267 BC) and one of the oldest Buddhist temple complexes in the country. Later for various reasons this complex was forgotten and by the time of king Sirisangabo this was covered with jungle. It has been taken into consideration that this was the location where King Sirisangabo (251–253 AD) offered his own head to a peasant. 

landscape

mini lakes at Hatthikuchchi

entering the complex

belonging to anuradhapura era

image house

lotus carving

quartz moonstone

there were 50 inscriptions on this rock

Indian pitta wasted 30 minutes of my time

lovely

image house

its statue

Where king siri sangabo decapitated him self

view from the top rock

nearby lake

what a view

the pond on top of the rock

exiting the complex

another pond

Nikeweratiya lake