Lankapatuna Samudragiri Vihara
A coastal temple south of Trincomalee marking the spot where legend says the Sacred Tooth Relic was first brought to Sri Lanka, with a hilltop stupa over the sea.
At the mouth of the Ullakkalli lagoon, on an elevated rock jutting out from the shoreline in Trincomalee District, a modest Buddhist temple marks what tradition holds to be one of the most consequential arrivals in Sri Lankan religious history. Lankapatuna, meaning Lanka's Port, is believed to be the exact spot where Prince Dantha and Princess Hemamala landed in the 4th century AD, having sailed from Tamralipta in India carrying the Buddha's sacred tooth relic, smuggled out of a kingdom on the losing side of a war, reportedly hidden in the princess's own hair, the royal pair disguised as ordinary Brahmins to avoid detection along the way. The Samudragiri temple is thought to have been built near the ancient port's entrance specifically for merchants and travelers to worship before setting out to sea.
Buddhist ruins scatter across roughly 50 acres surrounding the temple, an ancient dagoba, remnants of a pond, and pickaxe marks in stone all documented by the monk Ven. Ellawala Medhananda Thera, who visited the site in 1965 and helped establish its historical significance. That history took a genuinely difficult turn during Sri Lanka's civil war, when LTTE forces destroyed the ancient Buddhist ruins in the late 1990s or early 2000s and built a Hindu kovil on the site, reportedly using it to erect a radio transmission tower for clandestine operations, a stark example of how the conflict reshaped sacred sites across the island's east.
Following the defeat of the LTTE in 2009, a new stupa has been constructed at Lankapatuna, the temple now maintained with support from Sri Lanka's armed forces, and the site's archaeological remains, the ancient dagoba, ruined pond and pickaxe marked stones, received formal government protection under a 2008 gazette notification. For travelers tracing the path of the tooth relic that now rests at Kandy's Temple of the Sacred Tooth, Lankapatuna offers a quiet, reflective stop at the story's very beginning, a place where legend, war, and slow recovery all sit layered atop one small coastal rock.
At a glance
- Entry fee: Free, donation welcomed
- Opening hours: Daylight hours
- Time needed: 1 hour
- Best time: Late afternoon
Getting there
At Lankapatuna near Ilankaithurai, about 50km south of Trincomalee.
Frequently asked questions
- How much does it cost to visit Lankapatuna Samudragiri Vihara?
- Free, donation welcomed.
- What are the opening hours at Lankapatuna Samudragiri Vihara?
- Daylight hours.
- How long should I spend at Lankapatuna Samudragiri Vihara?
- Plan for 1 hour.
- When is the best time to visit Lankapatuna Samudragiri Vihara?
- Late afternoon.
- How do I get to Lankapatuna Samudragiri Vihara?
- At Lankapatuna near Ilankaithurai, about 50km south of Trincomalee.