Thank you for visiting my site.
You are here: Home / Destinations / GADALADENIYA - SRI LANKA
Among the three temples in a row near Kandy, Gadaladeniya Raja Maha Viharaya is a unique one.This temple is built on a rock at the village of Gadaladeniya on the border of Udunuwara and Yatinuwara. of Kandy District.
According to an inscription at the site, Gadaladeniya temple was built by King Bhuvenkabahu the 4th in the year 1344 A.D. According to the inscription, the temple was named Dharmakirti Viharaya after the name of the Buddhist monk who founded it. A couple of Buddhist literary works titled “The Nikaya Sangrahaya” and “Saddharmalankaraya” had named the temple “Saddharmatilaka” and “Gadaladeniya Viharaya” respectively.
Gadaladeniya was home to the celebrated scholor monks Daharamakirti the second and Vimakiriti the first whose contributions towards the literary development of the times was of immense value to the nation.
The temple remained neglected till the time of King Narendrasinghe who dedicated the shrine to Velivita Sangharaja and since then the temple was in the custody of his papillary succession.
The main shrine, built upon a rocky outcrop at the top end of the monastery site is of South Indian appearance. It houses a fine seated statue of Buddha framed by a Makara Torana (Sinhala: dragon
arch) decorated with numerous images of gods, over it. The images as described in the Gadaladeniya inscription represent the deities Salerea, Brahma, Suyama, Santhusthika, Natha and Maithri.
On either side of the main seated statue is a standing statue of Buddha.
In the middle of the temple compound, is a secondary shrine with wings extending in cruciform angles. Each wing is a small Buddha shrine with a sikhara in matching proportions and weight mounted over it surrounding the larger sikhara mounted on the hub of the wings.
"Dear Cyril, Sincerest apologies for this delayed email --- reason being that I had been extremely busy with work & travel, since returning from Sri Lanka and just got a breather now, to download our photos and catch up with private matters. Hope this email finds you & family, in the best of health & spirits. Your granddaughter must be keeping you busy and giving you & Mrs. Baddegama immense joy. At this end, we are doing fine. Nikhita is back at school, now in Grade 7 and havi..." Pradeep Kumar Menon - Singapore
"Cyril was absolutly Fantastic,Veryhelpful, Patient and extremly knowledgable. Wouldn't hesitate to recommend and travel with him again. Whole tour was well organized and perfectly done. Kate Williams and family from UK 04th January 2015" Kate Williams UK
"Thank you so much Cyril for guiding us around your beautiful country. We thoroughly enjoyed our time which was made particularly special by your professionalism, enthusiasm and friendliness. We wish you all the best in the future. Warm regards from, Aonghus O'Keefee and Sheela Hendricks- Ireland " Aonghus and Sheela Hendricks- Ireland
" Dear Cyril We spent a wonderful week with you. We were so pleased to have to visited your beautiful country and we will recommend you for all of our relatives and to friends. It has been a pleasure to spend these days with you, we will never forget nice smile on your face all the time. Thank you and if one day you would like to visit Switzerland we will be raedy take you around snowy mountans! All the best, Franz family" Dr. David franz from Swiss
"We came for a wedding and then embarked on an amazing holiday. Cyril show us magnificent sights and scenery of Sri Lanka. To do the country just we need to return with more time. Many of the sites we visited just made us want to know more about them, even though Cyril was a fountain of knowledge. We have thoroughly enjoyed spending time with Cyril and his excellent company, and it was so nice to go home a guardian angel looking after us. He is consistently courteous & good humored and now fe..." Andy Powell UK
"Thank you Cyril for caring us and giving a very enjoyable tour to all of our family while we are on holiday in Sri Lanka. Definitely we will recommend you to our friends and relatives. Hitendra Molleti and family" Hitendra Molleti
"Hello, We had 2 weeks exploring Sri Lanka and for most of that time Cyril drove for usto various towns, sites of interest. Cyril wsa a very pleasant chauffeur. Always prompt and greeted us with a smile. He was well informed about the sites we visited and pointed out many interesting historical buildings en-route. We had a great 2 weeks in Sri Lanka and Cyril's plesant and helpful nature contributed to this briliant holiday. Thank Cyril Sara and Steve from Birmingham, England" Sara and Steve
"Thank you Cyril for making our Christmas holiday fun so smoothly and easy. We loved Sri Lanka and look forward to retuning again. Cyril, your knowledge and service was outstanding and it was so refreshing to have such a very highlevel of service. We will be sure to recomond your service and travel agency to our friends. Please feel free to use us as a reference, you can use my email or phone number to clients." Bruce Larson & family from USA
"Thanks a lot for making great arrangements for the visit. The visit was very well organized with good hotels and the vehicle/ driver. I would highly recommend your agency and its services to everyone who wants to visit Sri Lanka. Anastasia - Russia, Feb 2011 " Anastasia
"We are glad to meet Cyril. He is very kind and patient, very professional in his work. He have lot of knowledge about history of the places and the things that happened in Sri Lanka. He knows all the roads and places very well. Very friendly and stand on time. The tour he recommended us and places were excellent. He replied immediately for mails which we send. He was flexible when we asked him to stop in different places and to change our program. He speaks very good English and explanations..." Ruty Ben Haim from Isarel
