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Kudumbigala Forest Hermitage – Sri Lanka’s first Buddhist Monastery By Arundathie Abeysinghe   Dating back to 246 BC, the era of King Devanampiyatissa (247 BC – 207 BC), Kudumbigala Forest Hermitage is the first Buddhist Monastery built for Buddhist Monks in Sri Lanka and has immense historical value. The Monastery is also known as “Chetiya Pabbatha” and is home to the only cylindrical dagoba (stupa) in Sri Lanka. According to scholars, this is the only dagoba in Sri Lanka that had been built according to Dhammachakka Stupa in Saranath in India.  This brick dagoba is the only remaining structure, whereas the other dagobas which had existed in the past have been destroyed over the years. Situated in Panama about an hour’s drive from *Arugam Bay in the southernmost corner of the Eastern Province, sprawled across 6000 acres of a rocky outcrop and in a picturesque setting in Kudumbigala Forest, this ...