Historical Wellawaya

Year and Month	January, 2015
Number of Days	Random 3 days
Crew	2
Accommodation	N/A
Transport	Pajero
Activities	Archaeology, trekking, Photography
Weather	Clear sky
Route	Monaragala -> Buttala -> Maligavila -> Buttala -> Galge -> Buttala -> Ambalanpotha -> Ranugalla -> Miyanakadura -> Higurukaduwa -> Siyambalagune -> Randeniya -> Hunuketiya -> Wellawaya – > Monaragala
Tips, Notes and Special remark	Take a bottle of water Do not carry Plastic items (Minimize), Make sure you bring back everything you took Some places require 4WD Get permission from the head priest Explain your intensions clearly
Related Resources	Trip reports: 1) Remnants from the past around Wellassa 2) Mill oya Expedition and few other places 3) In search of ruins around Wellassa
Author	Ashan
Comments	Discuss this trip report, provide feedback or make suggestions at Lakdasun Forum on the thread Historical Wellawaya

Map around Wellawaya – click to enlarge

map around Ranugalla

map around galge – click to enlarge

Wellawaya was not only a place of work for me it was also a paradise location for me to explore around. I have been to many places around this region but yet there were few more remaining sites that I needed to visit. This is a brief report on those..

Alugal lena okkampitiya
Saddathissa tank
Weheragala dam & ruins
Weheragala temple
Galge
Ambalanpotha ambalama
Ravana cave ranugalla
Pattini devalaya ranugalla
Kandahena ella
Kataragama devalaya meeyanakadura
Siyagul viharaya – Siyambalagune
Bulu gal lena
Hunuketiya temple / udugam medda hermitage
Udawela temple
Peraketiya temple
Rathmal wehera
Thissa len viharaya
Malwaththawala rmv
Ice paella / Kaluwala
Karuwala kanda lake
Alugalge tank
Ambakola wewa

Alugal lena okkampitiya (6°44’2.70″N 81°23’26.09″E)

This is a lovely monastery located bordering Hulandawa oya at maligawila. Currently there is only a single monk. To reach this one needs to reach Maligawila and ask for directions.

Paddyfields bardering Yala

Hulandawa oya

Alugalge lena Alu lena boardering hulandawa oya

sakman maluwa

Saddathissa tank (6°44’44.72″N 81°21’30.44″E)

Close to Maligavila there is a lovely tank called Saddathissa lake.

Saddathissa lake

Horombawa at backdrop

Spill of Saddathissa lake

on the edge

Weheragala dam & ruins (6°32’16.82″N 81°16’2.74″E)

At Galge junction on Buttala – Kataragama road there is an entrance towards Weheragala reservoir and just before the bund there is a restored archaeology site. Few other sites which were submerged to the reservoir could be seen restored at kataragama museum.

Weheragala reservoir

dead trees

the reflection

gates of Weheragala

plenty of them

ruins close to the dam

Weheragala Seya (6°32’20.36″N 81°17’4.25″E)

Closer to the entrance of the park there is a road towards the south leading to an ancient restored pagoda

and a hornbill

Weheragala seya

ruins at weheragala seya

view towards kataragama

parts of a chatra gala

Galge (6°32’21.30″N 81°18’22.96″E)

Galge has got its name because of the ancient archaeology site with drip ledged caves also there is a monument build in remembrance of British sportsman J.P. Ireson.

the mysterious cave at galge, so this is the reason why galge is called galge not because of a ganadevi kovil

drip ledge

pond at galge

in memory of

click to enlarge

Ambalanpotha ambalama (6°48’18.52″N 81°11’59.34″E)

Have you ever heard of Ambalam’s built to survive elephant attacks? Yes there were such ambalam’s in Sri lanka. There are remains of an ambalam with 8 foot tall base and a stairway to get to the ambalama close Yudaganawa. To reach this place one needs to take the Pelwatta – Passara road and turn to the right at Moratugama.

Ambalanpotha ambalama base

once there was a ambalama built on top of it so travelers would be safe from elephants

the stair way

Ravana cave ranugalla (6°50’54.41″N 81°10’17.66″E)

In between the 12^th and 13^th Kilometer post of Pelwatta – Passara road there is a large road side cave called Ravana cave according to the locals. This is now filled with earth and will disappear in the near future when the road construction begins.

Ravana cave at ranugalla

inside the cave

lime stone

Pattini devalaya ranugalla (6°51’42.30″N 81°10’12.50″E)

There is an ancient Pattini devalaya on Ranugalla –Namunukula road which is about 1Km away from Ranugalla. There are few ancient paintings in the devalaya but I was not lucky enough to witness it.

Ranugalle Pattini devalaya

old one in the new one

Kataragama devalaya meeyanakadura (6°51’14.18″N 81° 9’10.84″E)

Passing the pattini devalaya and proceeding 5 more Kilometers, there is a turn off at Miyanakadura which will take one towards the hill top Kataragama devalaya. There are ancient steps to get to the top of this rock massif and few years back even elephants marched to the top along with the annual perahera.

the range with the Katarahgama devalaya of miyanakadura

zoomed

the well which supplys water to the shrine activities

ancient steps

the view towards balleketuwa

the unique palm like rocky outgrowing

lord ganeshwaram

Kataragama gods shrine

view towards monaragala

wow

on the right of the mango tree remains of a nuilding could be seen

paddy at wellawaya

from top of the mountain

binara

Kandahena Falls (6°52’25.73″N 81° 8’28.33″E)

From Miyanakandura there is a road towards Kanda hena. After passing kandahena tamil school no2 you would reach a board saying Kandahena tea nursery.. There are few line houses there take the foot path adjoining the line houses to reach this fall.

කන්දහේන cascades

kandahena falls

Bulu gal lena caved hermitage (6°48’15.37″N 81° 9’31.72″E)

From Higurukaduwa one needs to take the Siyambalagune road and after about 3km’s there is a turn off towards the left. One needs to go 1.5km along this road and enter the forest to get to this abandoned hermitage. Please get guidance from the last house.

the path to bulu gal lena

Bulu gal lena hermitage

inside a cave

note the drip lege

another cave

Siyagul viharaya – Siyambalagune (6°48’23.38″N 81° 8’15.54″E)

At Siyambalagune close to the 4^th Km post from Randeniya is an ancient temple with a pagoda. This temple has got its name because this was the 100^th temple built by King Dutu gemunu.

entrance to the temple

ancient pagoda and bo tree together

Hunuketiya temple / udugam medda hermitage (6°48’10.06″N 81° 4’39.78″E)

After reaching Randeniya we proceeded towards Ella on Ella – Wellawaya road. At hunuketiya junction we went two kilometers towards the school (taking the left hand road). Just before the school there is a 4wd road towards the hermitage to the right.

steps

national pride

main cave at Udugam medda hermitage of Hunuketiya

another cave

ගල් මුක්කුව

a drip ledge cave

Udawela temple (6°45’40.12″N 81° 6’38.27″E)

From Hunuketiya we returned back towards Wellawaya and on the way (before reaching wellawaya) we took the new carpet road towards Mallaththawa school. This goes across kirindi oya and once kirindi oya is crossed the temple could be found on the side of the road. There is an old pagoda and many ruins.

pagoda with bo trees at Udawela temple

pillars

kotha

chatra stone

Rathmal wehera (6°45’24.31″N 81° 6’4.56″E)

Proceeding further along Ella – Wellawaya road we came to the ancient temple of Rathmal vehera which is right on the side of the main road. There were few ruins scattered here and there but the most interesting finding was the Buddha carving near the bo tree.

pagoda at rathmal vehera

ruins

a sculpture with cobras in backdrop

image house

Peraketiya Gangaramayatemple (6°45’26.90″N 81° 5’25.15″E)

Opposite Rathmal wehera there is a road towards Peraketiya where a unique (bell) shaped pagoda could be seen. It said to be an ancient place but we found no evidence to justify.

Peraketiya bell shaped sthupa

bo tree

Thissa len viharaya (6°44’15.92″N 81° 5’31.91″E)

Just before Wellawaya town there is a road to the right (Netola road). When one goes along this the hermitage could be reached. This is a lovely place located bordering a stream and on top of a mountain. There are about 4 drip ledge caves here.

the way to This len aranya

a cave

dana shalawa

stream near the hermitage

this len viharaya

inscriptions

another cave

Malwaththawala Raja maha viharaya (6°43’48.97″N 81° 5’29.03″E)

Few hundred meters along Wellawaya – Beragala road lies the ancient temple of Mallaththawala. This is now rebuilt and there is hardly any evidence to suggest its ancient value.

image house

inside it

pagoda at malwattawala

what remains

Ice paella / Kaluwala Ella (6°43’44.48″N 81° 5’0.88″E)

Few km’s along Beragala road there is a water purification and distribution plant called “Ice Peella”. Close to its fence lies a foot path which ends up at a stream. There is a canal across this stream which should be crossed with caution. After crossing this stream one would come across another stream with a lovely waterfall with a deep base pool. The waterhole on top of the waterfall is relatively safe and it’s the best bathing spot for me in the whole district.

Kalu wala fall

the drop

top of the fall

alakola oya

Karuwala kanda lake (6°40’19.47″N 81° 5’45.38″E) & Alugalge tank (6°39’34.93″N 81° 5’21.47″E)

Passing Buduruwagala junction on A2 I took a by road towards the right to reach two mini tanks which is barely known to the public but the visit was totally worth it.