Kadurugoda Buddhist Viharaya Sri Lanka

Address

Kadurugoda Buddhist Viharaya Puttur-Kantarodai Rd, Chunnakam, Sri Lanka

Diety

Buddha

Introduction

Kadurugoda Buddhist Viharayai is Located in the small hamlet known as Kandarodai, the Kadurugoda Viharaya (also known as the Kandarodai Temple) is one of the last Buddhist temples left in Jaffna. Ancient Kadurugoda Viharaya with some remains of Stupas is situated in Kandarodai village in Chunnakam, Sri Lanka. The temple is considered one of the ancient Buddhist remains in existence today in Jaffna Peninsula. Declared as an important archeological site in Sri Lanka, the temple is maintained by the Sri Lanka Army.

Puranic Significance

The folklore which reveals some stories related to this Kadurugoda Vihara. According to one legend, in the 16th century, Jaffna Peninsula was ruled by a king named Sangili. At that time there were 60 Arhat Bhikkus practicing meditation. Due to harassmentfrom King Sangili, those 60 Bhikkus decided to leave Jaffna and go to India. On their way, they had stayed at the Kadurugoda area to accept alms-giving from local residents. A mushroom curry served to them was poisoned and all of the Bhikkus had died. It is believed that these stupas were constructed with enshrining the relics of those 60 Arhath Bhikkus. Another story says that the 60 Arhath Bhikkus had died due to a famine, which was there for a long time. In 1917 remains of several Buddhist ruins were found at Kandarodai by then Jaffna District Magistrate Paul E. Pieris which was identified as the ancient Kadurugoda Vihara. He reported about 56 stupas in the area but at present only about 20 stupas can be seen. Through the excavations on that period, the ruins of a shrine room, coloured tiles, parts of Buddha and Bodhisattva statues, Buddha foot imprints, a guard stone with Punkalasa and ancient coins belonging to 1st Parakumba, Malla, Leelawathi and Buwenakabahu’s time were found in the site. Some of them were preserved at the Jaffna museum. Today there are about 20 stupas and a number of stupa foundations can be seen in the Vihara premises. The smallest stupa is about 8 feet in diameter and the largest is about 23.5 feet. The stupas possess unique features that cannot be found anywhere else in Sri Lanka. They have been made of gray colored coral stone and have a very distinguished pattern with small holes all over them. Another special feature of these ancient stupas is that they do not possess the standard square shape parts (Hathares Kotuwa and Dewatha Kotuwa) above the dome and instead they have umbrella shaped fixed pinnacles.