Athurugiriya is a suburb of

Colombo District Colombo District ( ''kol̠am̆ba distrikkaya''; ''Koḻumpu Māvaṭṭam'') is one of the 25 districts of Sri Lanka, the second level administrative division of the country. The district is administered by a District Secretariat headed by a D ...

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, ...

. It is situated on the Kotte-Bope Road (B 240) about away from the centre of the commercial capital

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 ...

. This suburb is a highly sought after residential centre in Colombo.

History

The history of the area dates back to at least 212 BC. The historic cave temple complex, Korathota Raja Maha Vihara, is located north of the city centre. This temple has two

Brahmi Brahmi ( ; ; ISO: ''Brāhmī'') is a writing system from ancient India. "Until the late nineteenth century, the script of the Aśokan (non-Kharosthi) inscriptions and its immediate derivatives was referred to by various names such as 'lath' or ...

inscriptions and one of them records that a cave at the site was offered to Maha Sanga (Buddhist monks) by a daughter of Mahachula Mahatissa. The second one says one cave was offered to Maha Sanga by a provincial leader called Sumana.

Transport

Athurugiriya has one of the interchanges of

Outer Circular Expressway The Colombo Outer Circular Expressway (also known as the Outer Circular Highway (OCH), Colombo Inter-provincial Orbital Router or the Arthur C. Clarke Expressway) is a highway in Colombo, Sri Lanka. It was opened in sections. The long outer circ ...

, which is located at Pore, about from Colombo centre. Athurugiriya is a major urban centre located along the road connecting

Malabe Malabe (, ) is a suburb of Kaduwela in the Colombo District, Sri Lanka. It is situated on the New Kandy Road (Kaduwela Road) about away from the centre of the commercial capital Colombo. This suburb is a crucial economic centre in Colombo. Et ...

on New Kandy Road, and

Godagama Godagama is a town close to city of Colombo Sri Lanka. It is located in Colombo District within the Western Province, Sri Lanka. Godagama is located on the High Level road at the main junction of the Avissawella to Colombo (A4) road and the Padu ...

on High Level Road. In addition, Kaduwela and

Thalawathugoda Thalawathugoda (, ) is a vicinity of Maharagama governed by the Urban Council of Maharagama. It is located approximately from the centre of Colombo, adjacent to Battaramulla and Pelawatte on the Borella-Kottawa Road, bordering Sri Jayawardena ...

are major urban centres nearby.

Residential

Athurugiriya is a highly sought after residential area in Colombo. Many important government office complexes; such as Sethsiripaya, Suhurupaya, Isurupaya and many other government institutions in Denzil Kobbekaduwa Mawatha; are situated within of Athurugiriya. Upper-middle class housing complex Millennium City is located within from Athurugiriya.

References

{{Reflist Populated places in Colombo District Suburbs of Colombo

History

Transport

Residential

See also

References