Buddhist sites in Anuradhapura

Ruwanweliseya ( Ruwanweli Dagaba)

What to see.......

Entrance and the sand courtyard

Today, the entrance open to the visitors is the eastern entrance.

Let us now enter from the eastern entrance past the security post.

• The eastern entrance is about 30 feet wide. It has seven steps made of stone. On both sides of the steps you two guardstones without artwork. These seem to belong to the early Anuradhapura Period. The steps end at the outer wall of the sand courtyard. At the end of the stairs you see a row of lion figures. The large columns that mark the entrance shows that there was a roof at the entrance. You can also see one of the remaining decorative bowls on the wall

(Steps at the eastern entrance)

(Lion figures: Eastern entrance)

• As you climb to the top of the steps, you see, just before the wall, a rectangular pond made of stone. This was probbably used to wash the feet of the devotees.

(Pond used to wash feet. Eastern entrance )

• As you climb the steps, on top, you enter the sand courtyard (Weli Maluwa).

(The sand courtyard: Weli Maluwa)

• On the sand courtyard, you see two large stone vessles. Some believed that these were used to collect water for the various activities of the Stupa but others believe that these are boats used to hold rice or porridge at th nearby Dana Sala (Eating house) but brought to the sand courtyard for some reason.

(Two riceboats (?) on the sand courtyard)

• The sand courtyard ends with the elephant wall, which marks the boundary of the next level which is the paved brick courtyard (Salapathala Maluwa). The elephant wall you see is a new construction. However a section of the ancient elephant wall (Hatthivedi) can still be seen at the Westurn entrance (the visitor will have to walk on the sand courtyard to the other side to see this, but its worth seeing).

(The western entrance, showing both the new elephant wall and the old elephant wall)

• On the North western corner of the sand courtyard, locked in a temporary shelter you can see some fine ruins which include some rare Buddha statues.guard stones, lion statues etc. Among these is a very rare limestone statue of the Buddha in which both shoulders are covered.

(very rare Buddha statue seen on right)

• At the Northern part of the sandcourtyard, outside the boundary of the courtyard,you see a 20 foot column rising in an octagonal shape. There are different opinions to what this is. One such opinion is that it is a mark to symbolize the out limit of the spiritual authority. Another opinion is that this was the column erected by King Devanampiyatissa, under direction from Arahat Mahinda Monk to mark the future site of Ruwanwaliseya

(The octogonal column near the western entrance)

The reader is also strongly recommended to pay a visit to the nearby residential compound of the priests of the Ruwanweliseya, where you can see a exquisite ancient pond that was used as a rainwater overflow system when the courtyards got flooded. A overflow pipe leading out from this pond carries water all the way to the Basawakkulama Tank which is quite some distance away !.

(The ancient pond located inside the temple quarters. The overflow pipe which carries water from the pond to the Basawakkulama tank is also seen)

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