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A forest enveloped in holiness – Text and pix: Mahil Wijesinghe Source:Sunday Observer A massive rocky boulder at Magul Maha Vihara I first visited the Magul Maha Vihara in 1990 with my mother during one of our regular pilgrimages to Kataragama. Normally, pilgrims to Kataragama make a detour to Situlpahuwa, an ancient Buddhist site in Block I of the Ruhuna (Yala) National Park. The journey was so fascinating in not only visiting ancient ruins of temples but also spotting an abundance of wildlife in the park. On the same road are a range of rocky boulders close to the present-day Palatupana which has been identified in the chronicles with Paluttagiri, known as Magul Maha Vihara today. Since that trip, I’ve returned to the ancient site nearly a dozen times in the past few years, spending each visit observing the hallowed ancient sites. ...