Asgiri Maha Viharaya
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Asgiri Maha Viharaya
Asgiri Maha Viharaya (also called Asgiriya temple, Asgiriya Gedige) is a Buddhist monastery located in Kandy, Sri Lanka. It is the headquarters of the Asgiriya chapter of Siyam Nikaya, one of the two Buddhist monasteries that holds the custodianship of sacred tooth relic of Buddha kept in Sri Dalada Maligawa, Kandy. The chief incumbent of the Asgiri Maha Viharaya is the Mahanayaka thero of Asgiri chapter of Siyam nikaya, a leading Buddhist monastic fraternity in Sri Lanka. The present chief incumbent of Asgiri Maha Viharaya is Venerable Warakagoda Sri Gnanarathana Thero. Asgiri Maha Vihara traces its origin from the Wanavasi sect of the Dimbulagala forest monastery of Polonnaruva. Currently, 565 Buddhist temples in Sri Lanka function under Asgiri Viharaya of Kandy. History Asgiri Maha Viharaya was founded by Commander Siriwardhana on the instructions of Parakramabahu IV of Kurunegala (1305-1335 A.D.). Situated north of the Kandy Lake, this temple is believed to be considerably o ...
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Kandy
Kandy ( si, මහනුවර ''Mahanuwara'', ; ta, கண்டி Kandy, ) is a major city in Sri Lanka located in the Central Province. It was the last capital of the ancient kings' era of Sri Lanka. The city lies in the midst of hills in the Kandy plateau, which crosses an area of tropical plantations, mainly tea. Kandy is both an administrative and religious city and is also the capital of the Central Province. Kandy is the home of the Temple of the Tooth Relic ('' Sri Dalada Maligawa''), one of the most sacred places of worship in the Buddhist world. It was declared a world heritage site by UNESCO in 1988. Historically the local Buddhist rulers resisted Portuguese, Dutch, and British colonial expansion and occupation. Etymology The city and the region have been known by many different names and versions of those names. Some scholars suggest that the original name of Kandy was Katubulu Nuwara located near the present Watapuluwa. However, the more popular historical ...
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Warakagoda Sri Gnanarathana Thero
Warakagoda Gnanarathana Thero (born 18 March 1942) is a Sri Lankan Buddhist monk who is the present Mahanayaka Thero of the Asgiriya chapter of Siam Nikaya. He was appointed as the 22nd Mahanayake Thera of the Asgiriya Chapter on 7 April 2016, by the ''Karaka Sangha Sabha'' of Asgiriya chapter, after the demise of Most Ven. Galagama Sri Aththadassi Mahanayaka Thera. Gnanarathana thero is known for voicing his right-wing political proclivities in public. In 2017, he issued a statement condoning the views of the hard-line nationalist monk Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara. At a public event in 2019, Gnanarathana thero endorsed the views of those who called for the stoning of a Muslim doctor accused of sterilization of Sinhala women as well as the boycotting of Muslim businesses, stating that Muslims are sterilizing Sinhalese through food sold in their shops. At the same event, he endorsed the purported presidential candidacy of Chamal Rajapaksa. The ensuing public backlash forced Gnanarat ...
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Natha Devale, Kandy
The Nàtha Devàla is a shrine located on the terrace, in front of the Royal Palace complex in Kandy. It is said to have been in existence even before the Tooth Relic was brought to Kandy. The oldest extant structure in Kandy, it is said to have been built by King Vikramabahu III in the 14th century. The history of the worship of God Natha is not clear. The name 'Natha' literally means ‘no form’ and ‘no shape’, and is therefore generally associated with Maitreya, the next Buddha. In the days of the Kingdom of Kandy, this shrine is said have played an important role in the establishment of the royalty. The king was given his royal name at this shrine. The Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara, being worshiped as a curer of diseases, the tradition of distributing herbal preparations on New Year day was conducted here until recent times. Hence, Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara is also associated with the Natha Devale, Kandy. In the annual procession, the Natha Devale procession takes the p ...
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Saman (deity)
Saman (also called Sumana, Sumana Saman, si, සුමන සමන් දෙවි) is a deity, subject to local and indigenous belief and worship in Sri Lanka. The name Saman means "good minded". His character is of historical significance for the Sinhalese people and veneration especially to all the Buddhists. God Maha Sumana Saman is depicted crowned and bejeweled, holding a lotus flower in his right or left hand and accompanied by a white elephant. According to Mahavamsa, the early chronicle of Sri Lanka, Saman is considered one of the guardian deities of the island and Buddhism in the country. Natha, Upulvan, Vibhishana and Kataragama are the other guardian deities. Nayakkar dynasty from South India introduced the goddess Pattini replacing god Saman, during the period of Kandyan Kingdom. Saman is the guardian (patron deity) or the presiding deity of Sabaragamuwa and the Sri Pada mountain. Accordingly, his main shrine or devalaya is at Ratnapura, where an annual festival i ...
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Natha (Buddhist Deity)
Nath, also called Natha, are a Shaiva sub-tradition within Hinduism in India and Nepal. A medieval movement, it combined ideas from Buddhism, Shaivism and Yoga traditions in India.Natha: Indian religious sect
Encyclopedia Britannica (2007)
The Naths have been a confederation of devotees who consider , as their first lord or , with varying lists of additional gurus. Of these, the 9th or 10th century

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Kandyan Kingdom
The Kingdom of Kandy was a monarchy on the island of Sri Lanka, located in the central and eastern portion of the island. It was founded in the late 15th century and endured until the early 19th century. Initially a client kingdom of the Kingdom of Kotte, Kandy gradually established itself as an independent force during the tumultuous 16th and 17th centuries, allying at various times with the Jaffna Kingdom, the Madurai Nayak dynasty of South India, Sitawaka Kingdom, and the Dutch colonizers to ensure its survival. From the 1590s, it was the sole independent native polity on the island of Sri Lanka and through a combination of hit-and-run tactics and diplomacy kept European colonial forces at bay, before finally falling under British colonial rule in 1818. The kingdom was absorbed into the British Empire as a protectorate following the Kandyan Convention of 1815, and definitively lost its autonomy following the Uva Rebellion of 1817. Name Over the years, the Kingdom of ...
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Sena Sammatha Wickramabahu Of Kandy
Sēnasammata Vikramabāhu was King of Kandy from 1469 to 1511. Before becoming independent the provinces that made up the Kingdom of Kandy belonged to the Kingdom of Kotte. Vikramabāhu founded the city of Kandy, and during the reign of Parakramabahu VI Kandy became a separate entity seceding from Kotte. He was from the House of Siri Sanga Bo and reigned for 4 decades, setting an example of longevity and stability for the new kingdom. His son Jayavira Bandara was his successor. See also * List of Sri Lankan monarchs The Sinhalese monarch -- anachronistically referred to as the Kings of Sri Lanka—featured the heads of state of the Sinhala Kingdoms, in what is today Sri Lanka. The Sinhalese monarchy originates in the settlement of North Indian Indo-Ary ... Notes References Citations Bibliography * * * External links Kings & Rulers of Sri LankaCodrington's Short History of Ceylon House of Siri Sanga Bo {{SriLanka-hist-stub ...
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Sinhalese Language
Sinhala ( ; , ''siṁhala'', ), sometimes called Sinhalese (), is an Indo-Aryan language primarily spoken by the Sinhalese people of Sri Lanka, who make up the largest ethnic group on the island, numbering about 16 million. Sinhala is also spoken as the first language by other ethnic groups in Sri Lanka, totalling about 2 million people as of 2001. It is written using the Sinhala script, which is a Brahmic script closely related to the Grantha script of South India. Sinhala is one of the official and national languages of Sri Lanka. Along with Pali, it played a major role in the development of Theravada Buddhist literature. The early form of the Sinhala language, is attested as early as the 3rd century BCE. The language of these inscriptions with long vowels and aspirated consonants is a Prakrit similar to Magadhi, a regional associate of the Middle Indian Prakrits that has been used during the time of the Buddha. The closest relatives are the Vedda language (an endangered, i ...
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Pali
Pali () is a Middle Indo-Aryan liturgical language native to the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of the Buddhist ''Pāli Canon'' or ''Tipiṭaka'' as well as the sacred language of ''Theravāda'' Buddhism.Stargardt, Janice. ''Tracing Thoughts Through Things: The Oldest Pali Texts and the Early Buddhist Archaeology of India and Burma.'', Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2000, page 25. Early in the language's history, it was written in the Brahmi script. Origin and development Etymology The word 'Pali' is used as a name for the language of the Theravada canon. The word seems to have its origins in commentarial traditions, wherein the (in the sense of the line of original text quoted) was distinguished from the commentary or vernacular translation that followed it in the manuscript. K. R. Norman suggests that its emergence was based on a misunderstanding of the compound , with being interpreted as the name of a particular ...
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Yapahuwa
Yapahuwa (Sinhalese language : යාපහුව) was one of the ephemeral capitals of medieval Sri Lanka. The citadel of Yapahuwa lying midway between Kurunagala and Anuradhapura was built around a huge granite rock rising abruptly almost a hundred meters above the surrounding lowlands. In 1272, King Bhuvenakabahu transferred the capital from Polonnaruwa to Yapahuwa in the face of Dravidian invasions from South India, bringing the Sacred Tooth Relic with him. Following the death of King Bhuvenakabahu in 1284, the Pandyans of South India invaded Sri Lanka once again, and succeeded in capturing Sacred Tooth Relic. Following its capture, Yapahuwa was largely abandoned and inhabited by Buddhist monks and religious ascetics. Location and Name The rock fortress complex of Yapahuwa is situated in the North Western Province, Sri Lanka. It is approximately between southeast of Mahawa midway Kurunegala and Anuradhapura. The original name of this Buddhist Heritage is Yapawwa, but now t ...
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Trinity College, Kandy
"Look to the End" , mottoes = , founder = John Ireland Jones , established = , type = Independent Private , affiliation = Church of Ceylon, Anglican , grades = , chairman_label = Chairman of Governors , chairman = Dushantha Lakshman Rodrigo , principal = Araliya Jayasundara , head_label = , head of school = , chaplain = Shelton Daniel , religion = Christianity , staff = , enrollment = 3,500 , gender = Boys , lower_age = 6 , upper_age = 19 , colours = Red, gold and blue , location = Kandy , free_label_1 = Former pupils , free_1 = Old Trinitians , information = , website trinitycollege.lk ...
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Malwathu Maha Viharaya
Malwathu Maha Viharaya (also called Malwatta temple) is a Buddhist monastery located in Kandy, Sri Lanka. It is the headquarters of the Malwatta chapter of Siyam Nikaya and one of the two Buddhist monasteries that holds the custodianship of sacred tooth relic of Buddha kept in Sri Dalada Maligawa, Kandy. The chief incumbent of the Malwathu Maha Viharaya is the Mahanayaka thero of Malwatta chapter of Siyam nikaya, a leading Buddhist monastic fraternity in Sri Lanka. The present chief incumbent of Malwathu Maha Viharaya is Thibbatuwawe Sri Siddhartha Sumangala Thero. History This temple is believed to be built by Senasammatha Vickramabahu (1473-1511) along with a stupa and a double storey ordination hall (''Uposhathagaraya'') in the late 15th century or early 16th century. It was originally built as the residence of three monks but today it houses many Buddhist monks including the monks of ''Karaka Sangha Sabha'' (executive council) of Malwatta chapter of Siyam Nikaya. The building ...
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