How picturesque can a temple be? Without any special decorations, without twinkling multi-colored lights or spot lights which can be seen from miles away…? How many temples can be compared to the scenic beauty or the uniqueness of “Kothdoowa Raja Maha Viharaya”?

“Kothdoowa” had always mesmerized me ever since I was a child with its simplicity and uniqueness. Since I bought a better camera I wanted to capture this beauty under the evening sky, which I think is the best time for photographing “Kothdoowa”. Though “Maadu” river is just about 6km from my village, I didn’t have the chance to fulfill my dream over the couple of years. Every time I went to my village, something was blocking this task. But last weekend when I went there, I determined to fulfill my dream. My mother also wanted to visit “Kothdoowa” because she wanted to prepare an article about this place. So I volunteered to be her photographer. 

We planned to visit on the Sunday evening. But unfortunately a heavy rain started ending dry weather which had prevailed for many weeks. So we postponed the visit to the next day and that day had overcast conditions from the morning. So we had to visit during the morning.

The common route to Kothdoowa is to hire a boat near the bridge over the “Maadu” river. But instead of taking this route we chose the uncommon route, which the villagers use to go to the temple. We went passing Balapitiya towards Ahungalla and turned toward the Ooragaha road. After proceeding a few kilometers again take a turn to right where there is name board of the temple. We asked a villager whether there’s a place to hire a boat in that area. His reply was “මහත්තයල තොටුපොල ගාවට ගිහින් හූවක් තියන්න. එහෙම නැත්තන් වාහනේ හෝන් එක ගහන්න. හාමුදුරුවො ඔරුව අරගෙන ඒවි…”. We were quite surprised by this and went along that small road. The road ended near the river and there was a small jetty (තොටුපොල).

Where the road ends… (Click Image to Enlarge)	Click Image to Enlarge
The island could be seen from there

We honked the vehicle as the villager told us. After a couple of minutes we saw a boat leaving the island.

The boat which came to pick us up

We got into the boat and started our short boat ride towards the “Kothdoowa”.

“Kothdoowa” closing in…

Our boat ride was a very short one which took around one minute or so… A little monk (පොඩි හාමුදුරුවො) helped the boat rider with parking the boat.

.	It was not the best day for photography…
.	Scenery from the “Kothdoowa”

“Kothdoowa Raja Maha Viharaya” is not just a temple built on an island, it has a very long history. The “Bo Tree” in this temple is a දෙතිස් ඵල රුහ බෝධි (one of the very first 32 “Bo” plants taken from the Jaya Sri Maha Bodhiya). According to what I heard there are only 3 such sacred “bo trees” in the southern province, one at Kothdoowa, another one at Thotagamuwa Rath Path Vehera and the 3rd one at Weligama. Kothdoowa’s history runs back beyond the Polonnaru Kingdom. It is believed that this place was a hiding place for the sacred tooth relic (දන්ත ධාතුව) on two occasions.
The temple was reconstructed by the Mudlier of “Maha Kappina” mansion (මහ කප්පින වලව්වේ මුදලිතුමා), who was a very powerful person in the Balapitiya area.

The sacred Bo Tree

The temple still remained in the old fashion and looks so simple and peaceful. There aren’t too many buildings and constructions. Even the repaired buildings have maintained old fashion of them and the characteristics of old buildings in the southern province.

The pagoda was also pretty unique	මහ කප්පින වලව්වේ මුදලිතුමා (Click Image to Enlarge)
Inside the old styled “Dharma Shaalawa”

Most of the people going for a boat ride at Maadu River and pay a small visit to Kothdoowa. But to almost all of them it’s just another island. Not many really spend some time there and enjoy the unmatchable tranquility of kothdoowa. We spend nearly one and half hours there and it was unbelievably quiet and peaceful. If you really love to enjoy the peaceful nature, go there and listen to the sound of silence..!

.	Entrance to the ultimate tranquility…
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One of the many giant squirrels on the island…	Caring hands…

After spending a quality peaceful time at Kothdoowa we decided to return. The chief monk (ලොකු හාමුදුරුවො) volunteered to ride the boat for us, just like we were told by the villager. The chief monk told us that it is a very common thing that he often transports the people to the temple and off. Sometime ago during some hard time (I think during the chaos time of 88-89) the monks transported the people to find money to buy food and other necessities. They even did not have any motor boats that time. Now the temple has 3 motor boats and they do not accept money for transporting people on normal days. But on the Poya days when large crowds come they charge something like 10 rupees. When someone gives a signal from the river banks (like we did) the chief monk uses a binocular to see who has come. If that is a group seeking fun then he will not send the boat. The boat comes only for the pilgrims.

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