Kotalawala Walawwa is a historic Walawwa building situated in Hindagoda,

Badulla Badulla (, ; ,) is the capital and the largest city of Uva Province situated in the central hills of Sri Lanka. It is the capital city of Uva Province and the Badulla District. Geography Badulla is located in the southeast of Kandy, almost enci ...

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, ...

. The building is located on the Badulla - Passara main road ( A5), approximately away from the

town. It was the residence of former

Muhandiram Muhandiram (, ) was a post in the native headmen system in the lower-country (coastal districts) of Ceylon (Sri Lanka) during the colonial era. It was awarded as a title of honor until suspension of Ceylonese honours in 1956. History The post ...

Don Carolis Kotalawala. The Walawwa has been formally recognised by the

Government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

as an archaeological protected monument in Sri Lanka. The designation was declared on 22 November 2002 under the government

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number 1264.

History

Since 1818 uprising against the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

colonial government,

Uva UVA most often refers to: * Ultraviolet A, a wavelength of light * University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, United States Uva, UVA and UvA may also refer to: Arts and media * Uva, a fictional academy in the ''Pokémon Scarlet'' and ''V ...

area was suffering from the ravages of British military actions. It is said that British rulers had almost neglected Uva's economic, transport and educational development. Therefore, some part of Badulla area was also in rural and forested state without proper development. Meanwhile, a youth named Don Carolis Kotalawala, born in 1847 from Undugoda, Raigam Korale area decided to migrate to Badulla and began his career as a good transporter. He first introduced a fleet of double

bullock cart A bullock cart or ox cart (sometimes called a Carriage#Bullock carriage, bullock carriage when carrying people in particular) is a two-wheeled or four-wheeled vehicle pulled by oxen. It is a means of transportation used since ancient times in m ...

s to transport goods through the jungle maze and personally supervised the transport network which was stalked by

bandit Banditry is a type of organized crime committed by outlaws typically involving the threat or use of violence. A person who engages in banditry is known as a bandit and primarily commits crimes such as extortion, robbery, kidnapping, and murder, e ...

s and

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s. The success of his career led him into well known

merchant A merchant is a person who trades in goods produced by other people, especially one who trades with foreign countries. Merchants have been known for as long as humans have engaged in trade and commerce. Merchants and merchant networks operated i ...

and land proprietor in the area. Being a notable person in the region he was conferred the title

and married to Sudu Menika Wijekoon, a lady of a high class family from the area. A stately house put up at Hindagoda off Badulla became their family residence and which was later known as Kotalawala Walawwa.

References

{{Reflist Buildings and structures in Badulla Archaeological protected monuments in Badulla District Tourist attractions in Badulla District Buildings and structures in Badulla District Manor houses in Sri Lanka

History

See also

References