Religious place of miracles; Somavathiya Chaitya.

The ancient Somavathiya chaitya is a Buddhist religious temple known as a place of mysterious sights and miracle rays of light which is located in Polonnaruwa.  

This sacred temple was constructed by the order of King Kavantissa of Ruhuna on behalf of his sister Princess Somadevi. She was the wife of King Giri Abhaya. Princess Somadevi had a great desire to erect a relic enshrined Chaithya for the veneration of people. Both her husband and her brother found a place called Somapura, where Arahant Mahinda was said to have resided with 5000 monks, to build this chaithya.

The Somavathiya Chaitya is believed to have the sacred Right Tooth Relic of the Buddha enshrined and its miraculous mysteries have made the pilgrims to visit this place for veneration. This is a place of historical value as it has a stone inscription which has been found to be around 2000 years ago. The ruined stone pillars, moonstone, brick walls etc are some of the historical monuments to be witnessed.

Somavathiya chaithya remained deserted for over a thousand of years in the thick forest of Eastern Sri Lanka until it was discovered in 1947. Not only that, the pilgrims were not able to worship the chaithya due the war conditions prevailed in the area. Archaeologists excavated  this place and started restoration works of bringing the Chaithya to its original condition.

Being located within the Somavathiya Wildlife Sanctuary, large herds of elephant roam in the  nearby surrounding of Somavathiya. This place also can be recognized as one of the best places to spot herds of elephant. The entire Chaithya premises is protected with an electric fence preventing wild elephants entering the sacred area.

📷 courtesy- ceylon.life, youtubecom, nbro.gov.lk, tripadvisor.com