Menikdena monastery complex

Menikdena monastery complex Menikdena monastery complex Menikdena monastery complex

About Menikdena monastery complex

Menikdena monastery complex, almost unknown to foreign travellers, is one of the best examples of a specific Sinhalese Buddhist type of monastic architecture called Pabbata Vihara. This kind of temple compound with buildings systematically arranged to a symmetric groundplan was widespread in the late Anuradhapura period.

The archaeological site of Menikdena, also spelt Manikdena, it is suitable for heritage travellers interested in the Buddhist culture of Sri Lanka’s ancient civilisation.

History of Menikdena monastery complex

The ancient structures, remants of which can be seen in the Menikdena Archaeological Reserve today, are mainly from the late Anuradhapura period. The reason for this assumption is the regular layout of the monastic complex, which is typical for the 8th century. Since antiquity, King Kittisirimegha (555-573) has been considered to be the founder of one of this earlier temples in Menigama, which was known as Budugama or Buthgama those days. Arahats are said to have lived in Sri Lanka only in the very first centuries of the Buddhist area, which corresponds roughly the pre-Christian era.

Menikdena monastery complex Menikdena monastery complex Menikdena monastery complex

【LK94007546: Text by Lakpura™. Images by Google, copyright(s) reserved by original authors.】

About Central Province

The Central Province of Sri Lanka consists primarily of mountainous terrain. The province has an area of 5,674 km², and a population of 2,421,148. Some major towns include Kandy, Gampola (24,730), Nuwara Eliya and Bandarawela. The population is a mixture of Sinhalese, Tamil and the Moors.

Both the hill capital Kandy and the city of Nuwara Eliya are located within the Central Province as well as Sri Pada. The province produces much of the famous Ceylon tea, planted by the British in the 1860s after a devastating disease killed all the coffee plantations in the province. Central Province attracts many tourists, with hill station towns such as Kandy, Gampola, Hatton and Nuwara Eliya. Temple tooth or Dalada maligawa is the main sacred place in Centrel province.

The climate is cool, and many areas about 1500 meters often have chilly nights. The western slopes are very wet, some places having almost 7000 mm of rain per year. The eastern slopes are parts of the mid-dry zone as it is receiving rain only from North-Eastern monsoon. The Temperatures range from 24°C at Kandy to just 16°C in Nuwara Eliya, which is located 1,889 m above sea level. The highest mountains in Sri Lanka are located in the Central Province. The terrain is mostly mountainous, with deep valleys cutting into it. The two main mountain regions are the central massif and the Knuckles range to the east of Kandy.

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