Polonnaruwa is the second kingdom of the Sri Lankan history. A vast number of ruins can be seen at the ancient city, located near the Grate tank named Parakrama Samudraya, Build by King Parakramabahu nearly 800 years ago.

Unlike this ancient city, some of ruins in Polonnaruwa District are effected by terrorism, where hardly visited by travelers. Madirigiriya & Somawathie are two of such locations. (This report was written in 2009, before the war is ended)

Day 01: Madirigiriya (25/01/2009)

Before 6.00 am we left Gampaha. Hemantha, coming from Ehetuwewa, a small town at the northern boundary of the Kurunegala Distict, had asked to join with us at Ibbagamuwa junction. However we had to wait more than 1 hour for Hemantha. So we had time enough to have a visit & rest at the famous Bathalegoda tank.

Bathalegoda tank

On our way we met the young wild elephant who used to rob foods form vehicles passing through, at the Habarana jungle.

the young wild elephant used to rob foods form vehicles passing through

It was 12.15 pm when we reached Hingurakgoda. Since it was too early for the lunch (Our lunch was arranged at Sungawila, 20Km far from there.) we decided to visit Madirigiriya. It was also nearly 20 Km off from Hingurakgoda. That was a very interesting event though we caught to a heavy shower. (Our jeep is not shield properly for a rain). On our way to Medirigiriya, we had some boiled corns to delay the hungry. The corns were as tasty as their freshness.

The corns were as tasty as their freshness

Madirigiriya

Oh! It’s raining again….

Ruins of a hospital complex along with a well established Buddhist temple were still in a good manner at Madirigiriya. The Pagoda was surrounded by four numbers of Statues of Load Buddha; all had been covered with a shelter built on rings of rock pillars. The temple was full of high quality rock carvings. Door frames, Columns, column heads, hand railings, tubs used in medical treatments, drainage … every thing were made with rock.

Watadage…	Watadage..
Strom water outlet?	Rock carvings
Rock carvings on a hand rail…	Watadage from a distance.
House of statues	Ruins of the hospital complex

It’s raining again. Use your umbrella….Hah..Hah..Haaa!

At least it was 5.30pm when we reached the house of my friend at Sungawila. Though we were hungry, we had our lunch and dinner together after having a great bath in the village tank at Sungavila.

It was raining the whole night. That helped us for a nice sleep, after having an interesting chatting on the next day journey.

Day 2: Somawathie (26/01/2009)

This morning we decided to visit Somawathie, an isolated Sthupa located in a jungle. Sungavila, was the nearest village to Somawathie, located more than 18 km in distance. Two motor cycles were also arranged for the journey because the jeep was not enough for the crew.

It was nearly 9.30 am when we start our journey. Near 45 minutes drive, we reached the last police check point known as “Dambadeniya Poson Dansela “. The road was gravel one, got muddy due to the rain occurred in last night. Some of bridges were being built; the temporary subways built were bad. Our jeep was slipped & covered with mud. It was funny to see…

It was funny to see…

On our way to Somawathie, we passed a rock known as “Erick Zone rock”. It was named so to memorize a famous English photographer who died there with an elephant attack.

Before we reached Somawathie, we had to cross a long grass land called “villu”, believed to be the previous route of the Mahaweli, the longest river in Sri Lanka. That was a great place for watching wild elephants.

a long grass land called “villu”, believed to be the previous route of the Mahaweli,

The road was so quite, except for the sound of our jeep. Elephants-dung were everywhere. The jeep was driven very slowly to enable us to see wild animals. But other than a fox and few buffaloes, we were unable to see any until we reached Somawathie.

The Pandal (Thorana) at the entrance of Somawathie

The pagoda

Few boutiques were there other than a small camp of security forces at Somawathie, The Sthupa was surrounded by an electric fence to avoid entering of wild elephants. The Sthupa is a middle height one, renovated recently. It had been abundant & lost in the jungle for 1000 years, until it discovered again in 1950s. Since the ground was flat and the river was nearby, the Sthupa get flooded each year through out the last 1800 years. Somawathie is a great place where one should be at once in his life.

The Pagoda

Afterwards we decided to go to the river. There was a jeep road to the river. The road was covered with grass taller than the jeep. The jeep was driven along the bank of the river and put into the sandy shore, through a lower position.

Through the bushes; along the river bank	The jeep was put into the sandy shore, through a lower position in the river bank
Sarath ayya measuring the length of a baby elephant with it’s foot prints.	Mahaweli river

The sandy shore was full of elephant foot prints. Then we realized that we had entered from an elephant gap. It was 3.00 pm then. That was also the time for elephants to be at the river. But we were not ready to leave the place without having our lunch. We had an adventure lunch at the sandy shore of Mahaweli river in Somawathie jungle. (Some of us had a bathe also). Do you know how lucky we were to not to meet any wild elephant. That was an adventure….but was a stupid thing to do, wasn’t it?

Security forces were always on alert

The last security point at the boundary of the sanctuary

Signs & bad memories of LTTE attacks.