The Kothduwa temple, or Koth Duwa Raja Maha Viharaya, is a

Buddhist temple A Buddhist temple or Buddhist monastery is the place of worship for Buddhists, the followers of Buddhism. They include the structures called vihara, chaitya, stupa, wat and pagoda in different regions and languages. Temples in Buddhism represen ...

located on Kothduwa Island on the

Madu Ganga Madu Ganga is a minor watercourse which originates near Uragasmanhandiya in the Galle District of Sri Lanka, before widening into the Madu Ganga Lake at Balapitiya. The river then flows for a further a before draining into the Indian Ocean. It i ...

in southern

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

. The island is located in

Galle District Galle ( si, ගාල්ල දිස්ත්‍රික්කය ''gālla distrikkaya''; ta, காலி மாவட்டம் ''Kāli māvattam'') is a district in Southern Province, Sri Lanka. It is one of 25 districts of Sri Lanka, th ...

of the Southern Province approximately north of Galle and south of

Colombo Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo me ...

. The temple is believed to have once sheltered the sacred

relic of the tooth of the Buddha The relic of the tooth of Buddha (Pali ''danta dhātuya'') is venerated in Sri Lanka as a sacred cetiya relic of Lord Buddha, who is the founder of Buddhism, the fourth largest religion worldwide. History The relic in India According to Sri Lanka ...

, circa 340 CE. The Bodhi tree on the island was planted from a bud of the

Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi ( Sinhala: ජය ශ්‍රී මහා බොධිය) is a historical sacred bo tree (''Ficus religiosa'') in the Mahamewna Garden in historical city of Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka. This is believed to be a tree grown f ...

by Deva Pathiraja, minister to King Parakramabahu IV.

Location

The temple and the island on which it is located both lie within the

Maduganga Estuary Madu Ganga is a minor watercourse which originates near Uragasmanhandiya in the Galle District of Sri Lanka, before widening into the Madu Ganga Lake at Balapitiya. The river then flows for a further a before draining into the Indian Ocean. It is ...

. Kothduwa is one of 15 islands within the estuary. The biodiversity of the wetlands surrounding the temple is exceptional and 111 species of birds and 248 species of vertebrates have been recorded in the area. In 2006, the Department of Wildlife Conservation declared 2,600 hectares of the estuary a wildlife sanctuary. In 2003, 915 hectares of the Maduganga Estuary was declared a wetland of international importance under the

Ramsar Convention The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance Especially as Waterfowl Habitat is an international treaty for the conservation and sustainable use of Ramsar sites (wetlands). It is also known as the Convention on Wetlands. It i ...

. The estuary and the 15 islands within, including Kothduwa became

Ramsar Site A Ramsar site is a wetland site designated to be of international importance under the Ramsar Convention,8 ha (O) *** Permanent 8 ha (P) *** Seasonal Intermittent < 8 ha(Ts) **

Access to the temple is by boat from

Balapitiya Balapitiya is a coastal town, in south west Sri Lanka. It is located in the Southern Province in Sri Lanka. Situated south of Colombo, about a two-hour drive from the capital. It is the nearest town to the Maduganga River Madu Ganga is a mi ...

, the nearest large town. The temple also operates its own boat for the purposes of running the temple, although it is sometimes used to pick up visitors. Those wishing to be collected by the temple boat should sound the horn and flash the headlights of their vehicle, from the access road on the mainland shore nearest the island.

The temple today

As of 2006, Kothduwa temple was the residence of five priests, though several young novice monks also study at the temple and greet visitors. Ven. Omanthai Pugngnasara (also known as Ven. Omaththe Punnyasara) is the fourth incumbent of the temple, and has lived there for over 30 years. The temple at Kothduwa is currently a popular destination with tourists. The resort town and beach of Balapitiya, at the mouth of the Maduganga, is home to several businesses that run tour boats. In peak tourist season, several tour boats a day ferry visitors to island restaurants, through

mangrove A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows in coastal saline water, saline or brackish water. The term is also used for tropical coastal vegetation consisting of such species. Mangroves are taxonomically diverse, as a result of convergent evoluti ...

tunnels, and stop-overs at the temple. Foreign tourists are not the only visitors to the temple, which is swarmed by up to 1,000 local devotees on

poya Poya is the name given to the Lunar monthly Buddhist holiday of Uposatha in Sri Lanka, where it is a civil and bank holiday. Full moon day is normally considered as the poya day in every month. Poya A Poya occurs every full moon. ...

, a Buddhist holiday in Sri Lanka.

History

In the 4th century CE, King Guhasiva of

Kalinga Kalinga may refer to: Geography, linguistics and/or ethnology * Kalinga (historical region), a historical region of India ** Kalinga (Mahabharata), an apocryphal kingdom mentioned in classical Indian literature ** Kalinga script, an ancient writin ...

was in possession of a sacred relic, a tooth of Buddha. The cause of political upheaval for hundreds of years, the tooth was believed to impart a divine right to rule, to whoever possessed it. The King, fearing that the object of his Buddhist worship would be forcibly taken from him, secretly sent the tooth away with the Princess Hemamali and her husband, Prince Danthakumara. Disguised as Brahmins and hiding the tooth in Princess Hemamali's hair, legend states that they sailed to Sri Lanka. Accounts of where they landed in Sri Lanka vary, with some recording their port as

Trincomalee Trincomalee (; ta, திருகோணமலை, translit=Tirukōṇamalai; si, ත්‍රිකුණාමළය, translit= Trikuṇāmaḷaya), also known as Gokanna and Gokarna, is the administrative headquarters of the Trincomalee Dis ...

and others as Welitota, or present-day

. The legend that they landed in Balapitiya, at the mouth of the Maduganga estuary, is recorded in ''Pali Dalada Vansaya'', or ''Chronicle of the Tooth Relic''. The story continues that the couple hid the tooth in a sand shelter at Kothduwa, while tarrying there, before finally giving it to King Sirimeghavanna, the ruler of Sri Lanka at the time. Many centuries later, after Kothduwa had become separated from the mainland and overgrown with vegetation, it was re-discovered by Deva Pathiraja, a minister to King Parakramabahu IV, who reigned in the 14th century. The Minister planted there on the island one of the 32 sacred buds of

. During the tumultuous 16th century, when the

Sitawaka Avissawella, ( si, අවිස්සාවේල්ල, ta, அவிசாவளை) is a township in Sri Lanka, governed by an Urban Council, situated on the A4 route from Colombo to Ratnapura, Colombo District, Western Province, Sri Lanka, ap ...

and Kotte kingdoms vied for power and the Portuguese threatened the shores of Sri Lanka, it is said that the hot-headed prince

Veediya Bandara Veediya Bandara (Sinhala: වීදිය බණ්ඩාර) was the commander-in-chief of the Kingdom of Kotte, Sri Lanka, during the reign of Bhuvanaikabahu VII of Kotte (1521–1551). He was a gifted warrior and widely regarded as one of the g ...

was keeper of the tooth relic, and that he returned it for safekeeping to Kothduwa, where it remained for a short period of time. Again, the island and the Dethis Maha Bodhi planted there passed into neglect, until businessman Samson Rajapakse took an interest in the area in the 1860s. He had the present temple built around the Bodhi tree. A portrait of Rajapakse now hangs in the main hall of the temple complex.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kothduwa Temple Buddhist temples in Galle District