Pilikuththuwa Raja Maha Vihara Archives

Pilikuttuwa – ancient forest monastery in Western Province By Arundathie Abeysinghe Situated off the beaten track, yet, located approximately 3.5 kilometers from Colomb-Kandy Road, Pilikuththuwa Raja Maha Vihara is an ancient Cave Temple situated in Pilikuththuwa, located in *Gampaha – Wathurugama Road. “Pilikuttuwa”, often spelt “Pilikuththuwa” or “Pilikuttuva” is the most picturesque rock temple in Gampaha District and situated approximately 35 kilometers from commercial capital Colombo and Colombo International Airport. Although, not a popular tourist destination, Pilikuttuwa is an enchanting place. The forest monastery known as “Pilikuththuwa Raja Maha Viharaya” or “Pilikuttuwa Rajamaha Vihara” is situated amidst a large forest in close proximity to Maligathenna Temple, the highest hill in Gampaha District. The forest monastery is one of the temples with the highest number of ancient monastic rock caves in Sri Lanka. There are 99 monastic caves with ancient drip ledges (“kataram” in Sinhala), cut above the opening of the ...

Exploring heights of Pilikuththuwa-by Mahil Wijesinghe The Pilikuththuwa cave temple and the small Dagaba in the cave on the lower terrace of the hills Source:Sundayobserver The ancient cultural concept of the Dagaba, Keth Yaya (paddy field) and Wewa (tank), revolved around the Pansala (temple) and Gama (village) for executing manifold day-to-day social and religious activities to the people. Not far away from Colombo and Gampaha, along the Colombo-Kandy highway, off Yakkala, into its interior, lies a magnificent mountainous frontier called Pilikuththuwa. On its lofty heights is a mass of ancient rock cave shelters turned into Len Viharas (rock temples) dating back to the Pre-Christian era of 1st, 2nd and 3rd centuries. There are about 99 rock caves with prominently carved out drip-ledges (kataran) on these rock cave hermitages. These drip-ledges were meant to prevent rain water trickling into the caves. Brahmi inscriptions etched below the drip-ledges of some caves go ...