Weligama (, ) is a town on the south coast of

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

, located in

Matara District Matara ( ''Mātara distrikkaya''; ''Māttaṛai māvaṭṭam'') is a district in Southern Province, Sri Lanka. It is one of 25 districts of Sri Lanka, the second level administrative division of the country. The district is administered by a Di ...

Southern Province, Sri Lanka The Southern Province ( ''Dakuṇu Paḷāta'', ''Theṉ Mākāṇam'') of Sri Lanka is one of the nine provinces of Sri Lanka, the first level administrative division of the country. The provinces have existed since the 19th century but did no ...

, governed by an

Urban Council The Urban Council (UrbCo) was a municipal council in Hong Kong responsible for municipal services on Hong Kong Island and in Kowloon (including New Kowloon). These services were provided by the council's executive arm, the Urban Services ...

. The name ''Weligama'', literally means "sandy village" which refers to the area's sandy sweep bay. It is approximately south of

Colombo Colombo, ( ; , ; , ), is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. The Colombo metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of 5.6 million, and 752,993 within the municipal limits. It is the ...

and is situated at an elevation of above the sea level.

History

The main industries are tourism and fishing. Weligama is a popular tourist destination and hosts several boutique hotels including an off shore

islet An islet ( ) is generally a small island. Definitions vary, and are not precise, but some suggest that an islet is a very small, often unnamed, island with little or no vegetation to support human habitation. It may be made of rock, sand and/ ...

known as '' Taprobane'', which houses a villa constructed by the French Count de Mauny, and is currently owned by Geoffrey Dobbs. It was the birthplace of the scholar monk

Weligama Sri Sumangala Weligama Sri Sumangala Thero (1825-1905) was an outstanding scholar bhikkhu with many important publications -Hitopadsesa Atthadassi, Hitopadsesa Padarthavykanaya, Upadesa Vinischaya, Siddanta Sekaraya. His work Siddhanta Sekharaya of 700 pages wa ...

. Weligama was significantly affected by the

tsunami A tsunami ( ; from , ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and underwater explosions (including detonations, ...

caused by the

2004 Indian Ocean earthquake On 26 December 2004, at 07:58:53 local time (UTC+07:00, UTC+7), a major earthquake with a magnitude of 9.2–9.3 struck with an epicenter, epicentre off the west coast of Aceh in northern Sumatra, Indonesia. The Submarine earthquake, undersea ...

, with 15% of the area destroyed, with over 2,200 houses damaged or washed away, and 469 reported deaths. There are a number of sites of historical importance within Weligama and its vicinity, including a high

bas-relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces remain attached to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb , to raise (). To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...

statue of

Bodhisattva In Buddhism, a bodhisattva is a person who has attained, or is striving towards, '' bodhi'' ('awakening', 'enlightenment') or Buddhahood. Often, the term specifically refers to a person who forgoes or delays personal nirvana or ''bodhi'' in ...

Avalokiteśvara In Buddhism, Avalokiteśvara (meaning "the lord who looks down", International Phonetic Alphabet, IPA: ), also known as Lokeśvara ("Lord of the World") and Chenrezig (in Tibetan), is a Bodhisattva#Bhūmis (stages), tenth-level bodhisattva associ ...

, carved into the surrounding rock, between the 6th-9th century AD. It is known locally as ''Kusta Raja Gala'' or ''Rock of the Leper King'' and is thought to represent a king smitten with a skin disease (possibly

leprosy Leprosy, also known as Hansen's disease (HD), is a Chronic condition, long-term infection by the bacteria ''Mycobacterium leprae'' or ''Mycobacterium lepromatosis''. Infection can lead to damage of the Peripheral nervous system, nerves, respir ...

"kusta"), who was prompted in a vision to take coconut pulp and water for three months as a cure. When he fulfilled the vision his health was restored, he then commissioned his figure to be carved on the rock commemorating this miraculous cure. This sculpture is believed to be all that is left of the old Agrabodhi Vihara that was located there. Weligama is recognised for its beeralu

bobbin A bobbin or spool is a spindle or cylinder, with or without flanges, on which yarn, thread, wire, tape or film is wound. Bobbins are typically found in industrial textile machinery, as well as in sewing machines, fishing reels, tape measures ...

lace-making Lace is a delicate fabric made of yarn or thread in an open weblike pattern, made by machine or by hand. Generally, lace is split into two main categories, needlelace and bobbin lace, although there are other types of lace, such as knitted or ...

. First introduced by the Portuguese in the 16th century, lace-making has remained a traditional handicraft along the coastal area of Weligama, with a number of households producing

crochet Crochet (; ) is a process of creating textiles by using a crochet hook to interlock loops of yarn, thread (yarn), thread, or strands of other materials. The name is derived from the French term ''crochet'', which means 'hook'. Hooks can be made ...

and

tatting Tatting is a technique for handcrafting a particularly durable lace from a series of knots and loops. Tatting can be used to make lace edging as well as doilies, collars, accessories such as earrings, necklaces, waist beads, and other decor ...

lace. The area is also famous for its distinct stilt fishermen, who erect a single pole in the chest-deep water on the beach, just few meters off-shore, where they perch on a cross bar and using bamboo fishing rods cast their lines out beyond the surf break to catch small fish.

Gallery

File:Avalokiteshvara, Weligama 0699.jpg, Avalokiteshvara File:LK-weligama-fischerboote.jpg, Fishing boats File:LK-weligama-stelzenfischer-02.jpg, Stilt fisherman File:Weligama-Pirogues_%C3%A0_balancier_(2).jpg, Outrigger fishing boat File:Weligama-Rue_sous_la_pluie_(1).jpg, Street scene

Transport

Weligama is located on the

Coastal A coast (coastline, shoreline, seashore) is the land next to the sea or the line that forms the boundary between the land and the ocean or a lake. Coasts are influenced by the topography of the surrounding landscape and by aquatic erosion, su ...

or Southern Rail Line (connecting

through to Matara), and the A2 highway, connecting

to Weligama.

Demographics

The Weligama Urban Council area is Sinhalese Majority with a large

Sri Lankan Muslim Islam is the third largest religion in Sri Lanka, with about 9.7 percent of the total population following the religion. About 1.9 million Sri Lankans adhere to Islam as per the Sri Lanka census of 2012. The majority of Muslims in Sri Lanka a ...

population, and a small number of

Sri Lankan Tamils Sri Lankan Tamils ( or ), also known as Ceylon Tamils or Eelam Tamils, are Tamils native to the South Asian island state of Sri Lanka. Today, they constitute a majority in the Northern Province, Sri Lanka, Northern Province, form the pluralit ...

. Others including Indian Tamils,

Burgher Burgher may refer to: * Burgher (social class), a medieval, early modern European title of a citizen of a town, and a social class from which city officials could be drawn ** Burgess (title), a resident of a burgh in northern Britain ** Grand Bur ...

, Malay. ''Sourc
Government Statistics.lk
' Religious composition in Weligama DS Division according to 2012 census data is as follows Buddhists 65,046-89.30%, Muslims 7,379-10.13%, Hindus 158-0.22%, Roman Catholics 141-0.19%, Other Christians 115-0.16%, Others 4-0.01%.

Facilities

* Weligama railway station * Weligama post office

Attractions

Taprobane Island Taprobana (; ), Trapobana, and Taprobane (, ) was the name by which the Indian Ocean island of Sri Lanka was known to the ancient Greeks. Tabrobane is suggested to be derived from Sanskrit "Tamraparni". This name could be a reference to the "c ...

* Stilt Fisherman * Kusta Raja Gala *

Lace-making Lace is a delicate fabric made of yarn or thread in an open weblike pattern, made by machine or by hand. Generally, lace is split into two main categories, needlelace and bobbin lace, although there are other types of lace, such as knitted or ...

Post and telephone

''00 94'' *

Area code A telephone numbering plan is a type of numbering scheme used in telecommunication to assign telephone numbers to subscriber telephones or other telephony endpoints. Telephone numbers are the addresses of participants in a telephone network, rea ...

''041'' *

Postal code A postal code (also known locally in various English-speaking countries throughout the world as a postcode, post code, PIN or ZIP Code) is a series of letters or numerical digit, digits or both, sometimes including spaces or punctuation, inclu ...

''81700''

References

External links

{{Authority control Populated places in Matara District Seaside resorts in Sri Lanka