Heritage around (ආන් බලන් තොට ) Ambalanthota!

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After my last two visits to Thanamalwila and Hambanthota I decided to head further south towards Ambalantota.

1. Ussangoda
2. Ramba viharaya
3. Gangarama rmv
4. Walawe ganga estuary
5. Pulinathalaramaya
6. Giri hadu temple
7. Therapuththa rmv
8. Rangiri viharaya
9. Galankuttiwala rmv
10. Uchawalika Temple
11. Veheragodella Temple
12. Wilgam rmv
13. Punyawardanaramaya
14. Gallavila rmv
15. Galenda rmv
16. Godawaya rmv

Ussangoda (  6° 5’55.49″N  80°59’10.54″E)

My first stop was Ussangoda plain which is believed to be a part of Ravanas legend. Since it was the rainy season the colours produced some stunning scenery

welcome to Ussangoda

ground zero

wow	note the coastal line

fishery harbour

Ramba viharaya  (  6°11’42.92″N  80°56’57.91″E)

From Nonagama I took off towards Ramba vehera (A18) which is about 8km’s from Nonagama. This extensive archaeology site needs about 2 hours to properly explore and there were many buildings which were restored. This is believed to be done during King Maha Naga’s era.

Ramba viharaya

ruins at Ramba viharaya

a statue

a guard stone

one out of many buildings

elephant carvings

a moon stone

more buildings

Gangarama rmv (  6° 6’15.15″N  81° 0’39.70″E)

After passing Nonagama village guest house I came across a road to the right which took me to the beach. After meeting a 3way junction I took the left turn and ended at Gangaramaya temple. There is an image house with an ancient “Pirith mandapaya” in it where Kandyan era paintings could be seen and the floor of it had square clay tiles. The head priest also mentioned about a similar “pirith mandapaya” at Kassagala.

Gangarama rmv image house

lovely mandapaya at Gangarama rmv

kandyan era paintings

kandyan era

survived a tsunami

a chamber

flow tiles

Walawe ganga estuary

From the temple I entered to the beach and headed towards the Walawe ganga estuary which is a scenic location. Please don’t consider getting in to the water at this point because there are many man eating crocs (even the fisherman fear them)

southern coast

livelihood

where the river meets the ocean

walawe river

Pulinathalaramaya (  6° 6’12.38″N  81° 0’17.75″E)

From Gangaramaya I returned back to the 3way junction and took the other road and ended up at Pulinthalaramaya. Here also an image house could be found. The lower level paintings have been damaged due to the tsunami but the upper paintings still could be visualized. These paintings belong to the Kandyan era.

pulinathalaramaya image house

paintings at image house

more

and more

what remains

head priest

Giri hadu temple (  6° 7’22.26″N  81° 1’12.33″E)

Just before the bridge of Walawe river at Ambalanthota one would come across a road side ancient temple where few monoliths could be seen. This is said to be done by King Kavanthissa and “Kesha dathu” of lord Buddha could be found in this pagoda.

Giri hadu temple

ruins

Therapuththa rmv (  6° 6’43.54″N  81° 1’6.17″E)

From Ambalanthota town I took the road in front of Ridiyagama road and reached Therapuththa temple. Where and interesting inscription and many ruins could be found. (This temple relates historically to the giant called Therapuththabaya)

pagoda at therapuththa rmv

පා දොවනයක්

inscription at therapuththa rmv

pillars

Rangiri viharaya (  6° 7’37.28″N  81° 1’19.72″E)

After returning back to the town I took the road which starts at the post office and ended up at an ancient temple. There were few ruined statues and huge monoliths in the temple premises plus a huge flower alter.

Rangiri viharaya awasa geya

pagoda

remains of a statue

statue at Rangiri viharaya

random pillars

කිරල

Galankuttiwala rmv (  6° 8’3.16″N  81° 1’29.98″E)

I returned back to the town to take the Beragama road and after about 2Km’s I reached this ancient temple where few scattered ruins could be found.

galankuttiwala rmv

a pillar

Uchawalika temple (  6° 8’58.67″N  81° 0’39.20″E)

From Galankuttiwala I headed back to Ridiyagama road and proceeded towards Ridiyagama until I came across an archaeology board directing towards Uchawalika temple. At this temple a ruined image house with a broken statue and a restore pagoda could be found.

direction board

new pagoda at uchchawalika

ruins of an image house

another building

ancient pagoda

Veheragodella temple (  6° 9’56.97″N  81° 0’59.53″E)

From Uchawalika I headed towards Bolana and just before Bolana School I took the Koggalla road. 1km from this junction Veheragodella temple could be found. At this temple few scattered ruins and a broken statue could be found.

pagoda at veheragodella

statue at weheragodella

image house in ruins

Wilgam rmv (  6° 9’37.41″N  81° 2’33.98″E)

Passing Veheragodella I headed towards Beragama. At Beragama with the guidance of locals I took the post office road until I reached the ancient temple of Wilgam. At this temple few ruined buildings could be found. There was also a broken statue.

pagoda at Wilgam rmv

korawak stone

steps

a building

broken statue

well preserved

Punyawardanaramaya (  6° 9’25.54″N  81° 2’6.75″E)

Continuing along the above said road will take one towards another small temple where few scattered ruins and an ancient pagoda could be found.

pagoda at Punyawardanaramaya

a statue

old pagoda

Gallavila rmv (  6° 8’58.67″N  81° 3’14.56″E)

From Punyawaradanaramaya I headed south to take the Beragama road. When the Beragama road ended at a 3way junction (close to Beragama tank) I took a right turn and again took a left turn to reach an ancient temple in the region where a restored pagoda plus a caved image house could be found.

gallavila temple

cave image house at galvila

pagoda at gallavila

siripatul rocks

Galenda rmv (  6° 7’42.70″N  81° 2’45.54″E)

I returned back on Beragama road until I reached the junction where I entered Beragama road after visiting Punyawaradanaramaya. I headed towards A2 on this road and about 1Km before reaching the main road I came across another ancient temple. Few scattered ruins and two lovely guard stones could be found at this temple.

Gal enda RV – kuda bolana temple

a lovely guard stone

ruins

Godawaya rmv (  6° 6’32.07″N  81° 3’4.60″E)

At Dehigahalanda School (On A2) I took a road towards the south and reached the ancient temple of Gothapabbatha. Since the road was under construction had to take few byroads in the process of reaching it. It is believed that King Kavanthissa’s farther Gotabaya did this temple and there is an interesting inscription mentioning that taxes should be donated to the temple which was earned by the ancient Godawaya fort. In the nearby ocean many artifacts and many submerged ships have been identified.

Godawaya pagoda

ancient port of magampura

historical inscription

a building in ruins

urinal stone

mal asanaya

In this journey my main navigation tool was Google maps because most of these temples were mapped properly on it. So I recommend Google maps if you attempt on visiting these temples. This would be the last report by me from southeast Sri Lanka for a while.