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Thissamaharama Viharaya
The Tissamaharama Raja Maha Vihara is an ancient Buddhist temple in Tissamaharama, Southern Province, Sri Lanka, Southern Province of Sri Lanka. It was one of the four major Buddhist monasteries established in Sri Lanka, after the arrival of Arhant Mahinda (Buddhist monk), Mahinda Thera to the country. Tissamaharama monastery had been recognized as a pre-eminent Buddhist educational center of the southern Sri Lanka from the 3rd century B.C. to the 11th century A.D. The ''Tissamaharama Dagoba'' which is situated in the premises of the monastery is one of the largest stupas in Sri Lanka. The present chief incumbent of Tissamaharama Raja Maha Vihara is Ven. Devalegama Dhammasena Nayaka Thera. History During the reign of emperor Asoka of India (304–232 BCE), many prominent Buddhist monks were sent as missionaries to neighboring kingdoms to propagate Buddhist philosophy. As a part of these missions, Arhant Mahinda Thera, the son of emperor Asoka arrived in Sri Lanka during the reign ...
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Buddhism
Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or 5th century Before the Common Era, BCE. It is the Major religious groups, world's fourth-largest religion, with about 500 million followers, known as Buddhists, who comprise four percent of the global population. It arose in the eastern Gangetic plain as a movement in the 5th century BCE, and gradually spread throughout much of Asia. Buddhism has subsequently played a major role in Asian culture and spirituality, eventually spreading to Western world, the West in the 20th century. According to tradition, the Buddha instructed his followers in a path of bhavana, development which leads to Enlightenment in Buddhism, awakening and moksha, full liberation from ''Duḥkha, dukkha'' (). He regarded this path as a Middle Way between extremes su ...
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Mahanaga, Prince Of Ruhuna
Mahanaga was an early monarch 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, ... of the Kingdom of Ruhuna in the southern region of the island. He is the founder of the Ruhuna. The Kingdom of Ruhuna was in some periods a client state loyal to the King of Anuradhapura and in some periods a country independent of it. Background The king Mutasiva had nine sons, including Devanampiya Tissa, Uttiya, Mahasiva, Mahanaga and Asela. After the death of Mutasiva, the eldest son Devanampiya Tissa became the king. According to the customs of Anuradhapura kings, Uttiya, Mahasiva and Mahanaga should have come to the throne next. Devanampiya Tissa's son's turn was next. Devanampiya Tissa's consort Ramadatta didn't like that. She planned to bring her son to the throne sooner, ...
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Tissamaharama Dagoba, 0648
Tissamaharama ( , ) is a town in Hambantota District, Southern Province, Sri Lanka. History It was the capital of the Kingdom of Ruhuna as early as the 3rd century B.C. Few buildings from that period survived. The presence of early Tamils in Tissamaharama was confirmed following archaeological excavations in 2010. The Tissamaharama Tamil Brahmi inscription, a fragment of black and red ware flat dish inscribed in Tamil in the Tamil Brahmi script was excavated at the earliest layer in the town. The large, artificial Tissa Wewa lake, which was a part of an irrigation system, dates from that time. The five main nearby lakes are Tissa Wewa; Yoda Wewa; Weerawila Wewa; Pannegamuwa Wewa; and Debarawewa Wewa. The town mainly serves as a starting point for visits to Yala National Park and Kataragama. Archaeology The archaeological excavations brought to light earliest urban phase in the 4th century BC. Fired bricks, Buddhist saddle querns, a potsherd with triangular sail (exca ...
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Dutch Ceylon
Dutch Ceylon (; ) was a governorate established in present-day Sri Lanka by the Dutch East India Company. Although the Dutch managed to capture most of the coastal areas in Sri Lanka, they were never able to control the Kingdom of Kandy located in the interior of the island. Dutch Ceylon existed from 1640 until 1796. In the early 17th century, Sri Lanka was partly ruled by the Portuguese and partly by Sri Lankan ( primarily of Sinhalese origin) kingdoms, who were constantly battling the Portuguese. Although the Portuguese were not winning the war, their rule was oppressive to the people of those areas controlled by them. While the Portuguese were engaged in a long war of independence from Spanish rule, the Sinhalese king (the king of Kandy) invited the Dutch to help defeat the Portuguese. The Dutch interest in Ceylon was to have a united battle front against the Iberians at that time. History Background The Portuguese The Dutch were invited by the Sinhalese to help fig ...
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Vira Narendra Sinha Of Kandy
Sri Veera Parakrama Narendrasinha ( Sinhala:ශ්‍රී වීර පරාක්‍රම නරේන්ද්‍රසිංහ; 1707–1739 AD) was the last Sinhalese King 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, ... of the Kingdom of Kandy. He was also known as the "Prince of Kundasale". Childhood Narendrasinghe was the successor of his father Vimaladharmasurya II. His mother was a Royal Concubine called Muthukude Devi, who was from a local noble family. According to historical sources his father's other wives became jealous of him. So they conspired to kill him and his mother while they sailed across the Mahawali river at Lewella ferry by drawing. But a young man was going nearby saved both of them. After this incident King Vimaladharmasuriya II ke ...
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Kalinga Magha
Kalinga Magha or Gangaraja Kalinga Vijayabahu (, , ) was an invader from the Kingdom of Kalinga (historical region), Kalinga who usurped the throne from Parakrama Pandyan II of Polonnaruwa in 1215. A massive migration followed of Sinhalese people to the south and west of Sri Lanka, and into the mountainous interior, as they attempted to escape his power. Magha was the last ruler to have his seat in the traditional northern seat of native power on the island, known as Rajarata; so comprehensive was his destruction of Sinhalese power in the north that all of the successor kingdoms to Rajarata existed primarily in the south of the island. Several theories exist about Magha, these theories range from defining him as an eastern Ganga king to a member of the Sinhalese Kalinga dynasty established by Nissanka Malla, Kalinga Lokeshvara. Some historians identify him as the Kulankayan Cinkai Ariyan mentioned in the Yalpana Vaipava Malai, Jaffna Tamil chronicles, stating that Kulanka is ac ...
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Voharika Tissa Of Anuradhapura
Voharika Tissa, also known as Vira Tissa, or Tissa the Lawgiver was a ruler of Anuradhapura in the 3rd century, whose reign lasted from 215 to 237. He succeeded his father Siri Naga I as King of Anuradhapura and was succeeded by his brother Abhaya Naga. He made a number of political reforms during his reign and is regarded as a ruler who established and promoted non-violence in the Anuradhapura kingdom. Voharika Tissa also made several attempts to suppress the spreading of the ''Vaitulya'' doctrine, a form of Mahayana Buddhism, which arrived at Sri Lanka during his time and spread among the bhikkus of Abhayagiri Vihara. See also * List of Sri Lankan monarchs * History of Sri Lanka The history of Sri Lanka covers Sri Lanka and the history of the Indian subcontinent and its surrounding regions of South Asia, Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean. Prehistoric Sri Lanka goes back 125,000 years and possibly even as far back a ... References External links Kings & Rulers ...
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Stone Inscriptions In Sri Lanka
Stone inscriptions in Sri Lanka form an important piece of Sri Lankan culture.Over 4000 stone inscriptions have been found, including cave Inscriptions, rock Inscriptions (Giri lipi), slab Inscriptions (Puwaru lipi), and pile inscriptions (Tam lipi). Distribution Cave inscriptions can be found in Mihintale, Wessagiriya, Sithulpawwa, and Ritigala. Examples for rock inscriptions are the Galwala inscription, the bilingual inscription found in Gadaladeniya and the Alawala inscription.Polonnaruwa galpotha, Mihintale, and Thonigala examples of slab inscriptions. Badulla and Katugahagalge are classified as pillar inscriptions. Cave inscriptions are the oldest type. They appear below the drip ledge (''katarama'') of caves. These are seen in almost every cave from the early period (20th-century AC). At the beginning, the inscriptions had two or three short lines containing information about donations made to ''bhikkus''. After the 2nd century AC, according to the Mihintale inscrip ...
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List Of Sinhalese Monarchs
The monarchs of Sri Lanka, also referred to as the Sinhalese monarchy, were the heads of state and rulers of the Sinhala Kingdoms located in present-day Sri Lanka, from 543 BCE (according to chronicles) until its abolition in 1815 CE. The Sinhalese monarchy began with the settlement of North Indian Indo-Aryan peoples, Indo-Aryan speaking immigrants to the island of Sri Lanka. The Landing of Vijaya (as described in the traditional early chronicles of the island, the Dipavamsa and Mahavamsa) recounts the date of the establishment of the first Sinhalese Kingdom in 543 BCE when Indian prince Prince Vijaya (543–505 BCE) and 700 of his followers arrived in Sri Lanka, establishing the Kingdom of Tambapanni.Mittal (2006) p 405 In Sinhalese mythology, Prince Vijaya and followers are told to be the progenitors of the Sinhalese people. However, according to the story in the Divyavadana, the immigrants were probably not led by a scion of a royal house in India, as told in the romantic lege ...
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Tissa Wewa (Tissamaharama)
Tissa Wewa is a reservoir in Tissamaharama, thought to have been constructed in the 3rd century BC, either by Mahanaga of Ruhuna or his successor Yatala Tissa of Ruhuna, in order to irrigate paddy lands and supply water to the flourishing city of Tissamaharama. The lake was restored in 1871. The embankment (or bund) on the southern shore supports the Tissa-Kataragama road (B464), which is lined by old Indian rain trees planted by the British to provide shade.''The Rough Guide to Sri Lanka'', Gavin Thomas, Rough Guides, 2012, p. 185. References Reservoirs in Sri Lanka Bodies of water of Hambantota District Lakes of Sri Lanka {{SouthernLK-geo-stub ...
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