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Trip Reports Archive » By Length » Two Days » Siyane Korale Heritage – Maligathenna, Pilikuththuwa, Varana, Koskandawala, Petta-gam Gala Historic Cave Temples

Siyane Korale Heritage – Maligathenna, Pilikuththuwa, Varana, Koskandawala, Petta-gam Gala Historic Cave Temples

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Two Days, March, Wet Zone, Culture, History, 2010, Photograhy, Trekking

Author: Ashan (216 Trips)

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Year and Month March, 2010
Number of Days Two day trip
Crew Only me
Accommodation My second home
Transport Public Transport: 231 route (Gampaha-Kirindiwela) bus and three-wheelers
Activities Photography, Exploring some Archeologically important sites related to king Walagamba (Wattagamini Abhaya ) 05 Months- ( 1st ruling time ) 103 BC Anuradhapuraya & 12- Years ( 2nd ruling time ) 89 – 76 BC Anuradhapuraya
Weather Sunny, clear sky
Route Colombo -> Yakkala -> Kiridiwela road -> Yakkala – > ColomboDirections:

Travel 1Km on Yakkala- Kiridiwela road and you will come to a “Y” junction(battagolla), if you turn to the Right and travel 1km and take the next road to the left you can reach Pilikuththuwa. and if you take the road to the Left from Battagolla you will come across Koskandewela(3Km from Yakkala) . before the 5Km post you will find a road going to the Right(Ambagaspitiya) which leads to Maligatenne (you can reach Pilikuththuwa from this road too). if you proceed further on the road (231 bus route) passing the turn off to Maligatenna you will reach Nelligahamula, take the left turn from here if you wish to get to Varana(2Km away) or proceed towards Dikkanda and take the Urapola road(Left) from the Dikkanda junction to reach Pettagam Gala.

Tips, Notes and Special remark
  • Water- take an bottle (you can fill it up)
  • Do not carry Plastic items (Minimize), Make sure you bring back everything you took.
  • Don’t disturb wild life
  • These are religious places so ware suitable attire & keep quite as possible
  • Watch out for snakes
Related Resources
  • A useful discussion about caving at Dikkanda – Gampaha on Lakdasun forum
Author Ashan
Comments Discuss this trip report, provide feedback or make suggestions at Lakdasun Forum on the thread

  • සියනැ කෝරළෙ’ (Siyane Korale)

Siyane Korale Heritage: Key to the map below
1) Maligatenna Raja Maha Viharaya(Red star on the map)
2) Pilikuththuwa Raja Maha Viharaya(Blue star on the map)
3) Varana Raja Maha Viharaya(Green star on the map)
4) Koskandawala Maha Viharaya(Purple star on the map)
5) Petta-gam Gala Aranya Senasanaya(Dikkanda caves)(Brown star on the map)

Siyane Korale Heritage Map

Siyane Korale Heritage Map

Few notes about King Walagamba

1. අනුරාධපුර යුගය.
2. සොළී/චෝල ආක්රමණය.
3. වසර 12ක් සැඟව සිට සේනා සංවිධානය කර නැවත සිරිලක රජකමට පත් වීම.
3.1 සිරිලක දෙවරක් රජ වීම.
4. සතුරු ආක්රමණය හමුවේ රජු පලායද්දී ගිරි නම් නිඝණ්ඨයා මහා කළු සිංහලයා පළා යන බවට අවඥා කළ බැවින් ඔහුව මරණයට පත් කිරීම.
4.1 පසුව රජවූ කල එම ස්ථානයේ අභයගිරි මහා චෛත්යය කරවීම.
5. සතුරු ආක්රමණය හමුවේ රජු පලායද්දී, රථයේ බර වැඩිවී වේගයෙන් යා නොහීයි බියෙන් සෝමා දේවී නම් රජුගේ බිසව රථයෙන් බැස සොළී/චෝල හමුදාවට යටත් වීම.
5.1 පසුව රජවූ කල තම බිසව රථයෙන් බැස ගිය ස්ථානයේ සෝමාවතී මහා චෛත්යය කරවීම.
6. සොළී/චෝල ආක්රමණය නිසා දිවයිනේ වත්මන් මධ්යම, දකුණු, සබරගමු, බස්නාහිර, ඌව ආදී අනුරාධපුරයෙන් දකුණුදිග පළාත්වල සැඟව සිට සේනා සංවිධානය කිරීම.
6.1 පසුව රජවූ කල එම සියළුම ස්ථානවල විහාරාරාම කරවීම.
7. බැමිනිතියා සාය.
8. එතෙක් කටපාඩමින් පවත්වාගෙන ආ බුදු දහම මාතලේ අළුවිහාරයේදී ග්රන්ථාරූඪ කරවීම

There were few places that I have visited previously that I thought of visiting again. It was a bit of a different journey for me(out of the routine) compared to my previous once! I really wanted to see the sun rise at Maligatenna but I got a bit late, nevertheless I reached there at around 7am and climbed up until I came to the Meda Maluwa & set my self off to the top of Maligatenna. The scenery was awesome as always. As I know this is the highest place in Gampaha District and one can enjoy the breath taking view of Siyane Korale from top of it! The only negative thing I noted was the sound of Dynamite blasts and sound of trees falling due to deforesting! After relaxing for few minutes on top of the rock I decided to take the “Kele route” to Pilikuththuwa but since I was alone & the area was very dry the risk of a snake bite was high so I didn’t attempt it! After getting down I decided to go in search of the Dikkanda caves.

Maligatenna Raja Maha Viharaya [More about Maligatenna Raja Maha Viharaya]

Maligatenna Meda Maluwa Maligatenna Raja Maha Viharaya

Maligatenna Meda Maluwa

Kutiya - Maligatenna Raja Maha Viharaya

Kutiya – Maligatenna Raja Maha Viharaya

Meda Maluwe Dhageba Maligatenna Raja Maha ViharayaMeda Maluwe Dhageba

Path running through a cave - Maligatenna Raja Maha Viharaya

Path running through a cave

steps through a rock chasm -  Maligatenna Raja Maha Viharaya

steps through a rock chasm

Final steps,  Maligatenna Raja Maha Viharaya

Final steps

Path to Heaven Maligatenna Raja Maha Viharaya

Path to Heaven

Scenery of Siyane Korale

Scenery of Siyane Korale

Paddy fields

Paddy fields

Scenery of Siyane Korale

Scenery of Siyane Korale

Scenery of Siyane Korale

Scenery of Siyane Korale

Framed

Framed

Top of Maligatenne

Top of Maligatenne

Uda maluwe Dhageba, Maligatenna Raja Maha Viharaya

Uda maluwe Dhageba

The top of Maligatenne

The top of Maligatenne

Got to Dikkanda by bus and traveled 1Km towards Urapola(left) and came to Galboda. From here you can see the Pettagam Gala Aranya senasaya across the paddy fields, there is a road to the right that one needs to take to reach this rock, after traveling 1Km on that road you will notice a small road to the left with the name board. This road is motarable with difficulty and it leads to the top of the rock. After getting permission from the high priest I had a look around the temple premises and afterwards reached the “Petti Gala”. To reach the caves you need to climb downwards from this Petti Gala and there is no clear path on the rock surface(Bit dangerous). This cave was formed in between two huge rocks and there were plenty of bats! the cave was simply fascinating! At the top of Pettagam gala I noted Maligatenne & Varana far away. The only sad sight was seeing that half of the rock of Pettagam Gala was blasted away .

Pettagam Gala Aranya Senasanaya

Pettagam Gala Aranya Senasanaya

Pettagam Gala Aranya Senasanaya

Varana seen far away from Pettagam Gala

Varana seen far away from Pettagam Gala

Maligatenna as seen from Pettagam gala

Maligatenna as seen from Pettagam gala

The Chaithiya, Pettagam Gala Aranya Senasanaya

The Chaithiya

The Petti Gala, Pettagam Gala Aranya Senasanaya

The Petti Gala

The caves, Pettagam Gala Aranya Senasanaya

The caves

The caves, Pettagam Gala Aranya Senasanaya

The caves

Blessed!, Pettagam Gala Aranya Senasanaya

Blessed!

The cave rock, Pettagam Gala Aranya Senasanaya

The cave rock

The rock blasted away, Pettagam Gala Aranya Senasanaya

The rock blasted away

I traveled back to Nelligahamula by bus and took the Varana road to reach Varana Raja Maha viharaya which was 2Km away from my second home. after going trough the interesting archeologically important sights at the temple I ended my day happily at 12 Noon

Varana Raja Maha Viharaya [Read more about Varana Raja Maha Viharaya: Link1, Link2, Link3]

Varana Raja Maha Viharaya

Varana Raja Maha Viharaya

Varana

Varana

Dharma Shalawa, Varana Raja Maha Viharaya

Dharma Shalawa

The roof of the Dharma Shalawa, Varana Raja Maha Viharaya

The roof of the Dharma Shalawa

A rock painting, Varana Raja Maha Viharaya

A rock painting

Shelter to the inscription, Varana Raja Maha Viharaya

Shelter to the inscription

The ancient inscription, Varana Raja Maha Viharaya

The ancient inscription

Meda Mluwa, Varana Raja Maha Viharaya

Meda Mluwa

uda maluwe Dhageba, Varana Raja Maha Viharaya

uda maluwe Dhageba

Uda maluwa, Varana Raja Maha Viharaya

Uda maluwa

Kutiya, Varana Raja Maha Viharaya

Kutiya

Another cave, Varana Raja Maha Viharaya

Another cave

Next day morning I went to Pilikuththuwa Raja maha viharaya, after looking around and enjoying the historical paintings, wooden bridge I went in search of the giant Pus Wela and the caves and after that it was the journey to the top of the rock. It was very easy to climb up but since there are many foot paths one might get so confused and get lost so better to get directions from some one.

Pilikuththuwa Raja Maha Viharaya [Read more about Pilikuththuwa Raja Maha Viharaya]

Dhageba at Pilikuththuwa Raja Maha Viharaya

Dhageba at Pilikuththuwa Raja Maha Viharaya

Click image for larger picture

Inside the Len Viharaya, Pilikuththuwa Raja Maha Viharaya

Inside the Len Viharaya

Inside the Len Viharaya, Pilikuththuwa Raja Maha Viharaya

Inside the Len Viharaya

Ancient paintings of the Len Viharaya, Pilikuththuwa Raja Maha Viharaya

Ancient paintings of the Len Viharaya

Ancient paintings of the Len Viharaya, Pilikuththuwa Raja Maha Viharaya

Ancient paintings of the Len Viharaya

Ancient paintings of the Len Viharaya, Pilikuththuwa Raja Maha Viharaya

Ancient paintings of the Len Viharaya

Sri pathula at Pilikuththuwa Raja Maha Viharaya

Sri pathula at Pilikuththuwa Raja Maha Viharaya

Old wooden bridge, Pilikuththuwa Raja Maha Viharaya

Old wooden bridge

The palanquin used by Ven. Hikkaduwe Sumangala Thero

The palanquin used by Ven. Hikkaduwe Sumangala Thero

The pond, Pilikuththuwa Raja Maha Viharaya

The pond

The path to the top

The path to the top

The Giant "Pus Wela" (Second largest in SL?)

The Giant “Pus Wela” (Second largest in SL?)

Caves

Caves

Another cave, Pilikuththuwa Raja Maha Viharaya

Another cave

The top

The top

Siyane Korale as seen from Pilikuththuwa Raja Maha Viharaya

Siyane Korale as seen from Pilikuththuwa Raja Maha Viharaya

On the opposite side of the rock

On the opposite side of the rock

On the way back to Nelligahamula we stepped in to a Old archeologically important temple called Koskandewala, the temple was surrounded by a rock wall on one side and there was a peaceful forest patch near by too. In the evening I left back to Colombo happily as always!

Koskandewela Maha Viharaya

Koskandewela Maha Viharaya

Vihara geya, Koskandewela Maha Viharaya

Vihara geya

The Bo tree bordered by the rocky wall

The Bo tree bordered by the rocky wall

A peaceful place, Koskandewela Maha Viharaya

A peaceful place

Architecture, Koskandewela Maha Viharaya

Architecture

The unusual rock wall, Koskandewela Maha Viharaya

The unusual rock wall

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