Dodanduwa is a coastal village situated in

Galle District Galle ( ''gālla distrikkaya''; ''Kāli māvattam'') is a Districts of Sri Lanka, district in Southern Province, Sri Lanka, Southern Province, Sri Lanka. It is one of 25 districts of Sri Lanka, the second level administrative division of the co ...

, Southern Province 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, ...

, integrated into

Hikkaduwa Urban Council Hikkaduwa Urban Council, in Galle District (Sri Lanka) is the local authority covering the three urban neighbourhoods of Hikkaduwa town plus eight villages around. The total area is . (4,9 sq mi), on eleven wards and 27 GN Divisions Descriptio ...

. Dodanduwa is known for a Buddhist

Island Hermitage Island Hermitage on (Polgasduwa) Dodanduwa Island, Galle District, Sri Lanka is a famous Buddhist forest monastery founded by Ven Nyanatiloka Mahathera in 1911. It is a secluded place for Buddhist monks to study and meditate in the Theravada ...

where monks follow the strict Sri Lankan Forest Tradition (

meditation Meditation is a practice in which an individual uses a technique to train attention and awareness and detach from reflexive, "discursive thinking", achieving a mentally clear and emotionally calm and stable state, while not judging the meditat ...

and loneliness). The town is located approximately north of

Galle Galle (, ; , ) (formerly ) is a major city on the southwestern tip of Sri Lanka, south of Colombo. Galle is the provincial capital and largest city of Southern Province, Sri Lanka and is the capital of Galle District. Galle was known as ''Gi ...

and 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 ...

. Prior to the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Dodanduwa was known as the commercial centre for Salt Fish or Jaadi.

Transport

Road

Located on the A2 highway ( Colombo-Galle-Hambantota-Wellawaya) a part of the

road.

Rail

Dodanduwa railway station is the 45th station on the Coastal Line and is located from

. The station, constructed in 1900, has one platform and all non-express trains running on the Coastal Line stop at the station.

Education

The Sri Piyaratana School at Dodanduwa is the first Buddhist School in the country, and was inaugurated by

Sri Piyaratana Tissa Mahanayake Thero Sri Piyaratana Tissa Mahanayake Thero (; 12 December 1826 – 20 May 1907), also known as Dodanduwa Piyaratne Thero, was the Mahanayaka Thero of the Amarapura Nikaya (circa 1860s), and the Sanganayake of the Southern Province. He popularised ...

in 1869.

Buddhist temples

* Shailabimbarama Maha Viharaya * Morakola Gangarama Temple * Kumarakanda Maha Viharaya * Rajarama Purana Viharaya

References