Stories Behind Names of Places in Sri Lanka How places in Sri Lanka got their names – MONARAGALA – By Nimal Sedera
Image Source : .lanka-excursions-holidays.com
Source : Dæhæna – June 2025
Monaragala is a district in the Uva province . It is a famous agricultural hub in our country. Monaragala is famous for several key historical things linked to it. Some historical Buddhist statues, like the tallest Buddha statue at Maligawila, and the famous cave temples with paintings of archaeological value are in Monaragala .
The Maligawila Buddha statue is a standing figure of the Buddha in Sri Lanka, which has been carved out of a large limestone rock during the 7th century by a Prince named Aggabodhi. It is the tallest free -standing ancient statue of the Buddha found in the country.
It had been broken into several pieces by the time it was found in 1951. Gal Oya National Park, Yala National Park, Muthukandiya Reservoir, Menik Ganga, Gal Oya, Heda Oya, Wila Oya, Kumbukkan Oya are situated in Monaragala district.
Let us now examine how the name “Monaragala” came into being. At a time there was no name for the area, it began to
be populated. With the morning sunrise, they observed a particular rock on a mountain shining like a peacock head. It was bright and glittering. The Sinhala word for peacock is “monara” (හමානරා). People began to say “හමානරා වහේ ගල” and over time it became the name of the place and now the name for a key district is “Monaragala”. To this date this mountain rock exists and, yet people continue to admire it and yet call the rock හමානරාගල.
Nimal Sedera
Dr. Nimal Sedera is a journalist, poet, motivational speaker and
an author of over 70 books.
