Dimbulagala Raja Maha Vihara
An ancient rock monastery on a forested hill east of Polonnaruwa, honeycombed with meditation caves and old inscriptions, with a climb to a summit dagoba and wide views.
Rising from the dry zone plains some 16 km southeast of Polonnaruwa, Dimbulagala is a striking rock formation the British colonial administration once labeled Gunner's Quoin, its history stretching back far enough that legend holds Pandukabhaya, later the founding king of Anuradhapura, lived here briefly during the 4th century BCE. Originally known as Dhumarakkhapabbata or Udumbarapabbata, the site held genuine importance during the Anuradhapura period, a 12th century inscription left by Sundaramaha Devi records some 500 monks residing at the monastery at that time, and the mountain's most historically significant chapter came under King Parakramabahu I, when the Dimbulagala Maha Kassapa Thera worked directly alongside the king to help purify and reform the Buddhist monastic order across the kingdom.
Caves cut into the rock throughout the Dimbulagala range bear Brahmi inscriptions carved above their drip ledges, physical evidence of the antiquity of monastic life here, and by the time anthropologist Charles Gabriel Seligman visited in 1911, one of these same caves had become a refuge for the indigenous Vedda people, a detail reflecting the genuinely mixed Vedda and Sinhalese ancestry of villagers still living around the rock today. The monastery fell into abandonment following the decline of the Polonnaruwa Kingdom, until Kithalagama Sri Seelalankara Thera undertook its restoration in the 1950s, work that's since made Dimbulagala the largest monastery of the Amarapura Nikaya anywhere in Sri Lanka's northeastern dry zone, until the chief monk's assassination in 1995, a tragedy still marked by a memorial near the temple's entrance gate.
Today's monastery includes an octagonal museum displaying an eclectic collection of donated Buddha statues, a colorful cave temple, and a jungle path climbing several flights of stairs to Akasa Chaitya, a modern stupa doubling as a lookout tower atop the range's western peak, its sweeping views taking in the surrounding paddy plains and, further south, the wildlife area of Maduru Oya National Park. Higher still sit the curative waters of Namal Pokuna and the Maravidiya caves, a genuinely layered site where ancient forest asceticism, colonial era naming, and modern religious revival all sit within the same weathered granite outcrop.
At a glance
- Entry fee: Donation
- Opening hours: Daylight hours
- Time needed: 1.5 to 2 hours
- Best time: Early morning, before the heat
Getting there
About 20km southeast of Polonnaruwa town, off the Batticaloa road.
Frequently asked questions
- How much does it cost to visit Dimbulagala Raja Maha Vihara?
- Donation.
- What are the opening hours at Dimbulagala Raja Maha Vihara?
- Daylight hours.
- How long should I spend at Dimbulagala Raja Maha Vihara?
- Plan for 1.5 to 2 hours.
- When is the best time to visit Dimbulagala Raja Maha Vihara?
- Early morning, before the heat.
- How do I get to Dimbulagala Raja Maha Vihara?
- About 20km southeast of Polonnaruwa town, off the Batticaloa road.