Kadugannawa Pass is a mountain pass located near

Kadugannawa Kadugannawa is a town in Kandy District in the Central Province of Sri Lanka, governed by an Urban Council. It is located along the A1 road west of Peradeniya. The town is served by Kadugannawa Railway Station and has the Kadugannawa Central ...

town in the Central Province of Sri Lanka. It is located along the Colombo-Kandy A1 highway. It is a common roadside stop for tourists to enjoy the vistas to the

Kegalle Kegalle ( si, කෑගල්ල; ta, கேகாலை) is a large town in Sabaragamuwa Province of Sri Lanka. It is located on the Colombo– Kandy road, approximately from Colombo and from Kandy. It is the main town in the Kegalle Distr ...

valley below and view the prominent

inselberg An inselberg or monadnock () is an isolated rock hill, knob, ridge, or small mountain that rises abruptly from a gently sloping or virtually level surrounding plain. In Southern Africa a similar formation of granite is known as a koppie, a ...

known as the Bible Rock.

Geography

Kadugannawa Pass is situated at the boundaries of the Central and

Sabaragamuwa The Sabaragamuwa Province ( si, සබරගමුව පළාත ''Sabaragamuwa Paḷāta'', ta, சபரகமுவ மாகாணம் ''Sabaragamuwa Mākāṇam'') is one of the nine provinces of Sri Lanka, the first level administrati ...

Provinces in Sri Lanka. The pass lies along the Alagalla mountain range and is surrounded by Ambuluwawa, Knuckles and Hanthana Mountain Ranges on its eastern side. To the west is a

precipice In geography and geology, a cliff is an area of rock which has a general angle defined by the vertical, or nearly vertical. Cliffs are formed by the processes of weathering and erosion, with the effect of gravity. Cliffs are common on co ...

with vistas over the Kegalle valley of the river

Maha Oya The Maha Oya is a major stream in the Sabaragamuwa Province of Sri Lanka. It measures approximately in length. It runs across four provinces and five districts. Maha Oya has 14 Water supply networks to serve the need of water and more than 1 mi ...

with prominent inselbergs Bible Rock (Bathalegala) and Devanagala. Kadugannawa Pass incline begins at 290 feet above sea level passing the Higula near

Mawanella Mawanella is a town which belongs to the Kegalle district in the Sabaragamuwa Province of Sri Lanka. It lies between Kegalle and Kadugannawa along the Colombo-Kandy road. The area consists of four administrative areas, namely Mawanella, Aranayake ...

by road or Rambukkana station by train. The road and rail tracks winds up through rugged terrain and reaches its peak near Kadugannawa Dawson Tower at 1690 feet above sea level.

History

The Kadugannawa Pass was a lookout point in the Kingdom of Kandy. The Balana fort which was the main fortress established to protect the Kandian Kingdom from foreign powers was situated near the Kadugannawa pass. 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. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

were the first foreign power to occupy Kingdom of Kandy permanently. British Governor Edward Barnes wanted a new road built to Kandy as the old road was long and circuitous. The old road was along the Kelani river valley, via Ruwanwella to the Ma Oya valley, then up the incline to

Gampola Gampola ( si, ගම්පොල, ta, கம்பளை) is a town located in Kandy District, Central Province, Sri Lanka, governed by an Urban Council. Gampola was made the capital of the island by King Buwanekabahu IV, who ruled for four yea ...

and on to Kandy. The new road was built through Kadugannawa mountain pass in the 1820s led by Captain Dawson. When British built the new Colombo-Kandy road they decided to pierce a rock at the Kadugannawa Pass instead of blasting it away or simply bypassing it, as the new road does today. This rock piercing is known as the Kadugannawa Tunnel and is still preserved though a bypass road was built around it when the Colombo-Kandy A1 highway was widened and upgraded in the late 1980s. An explanation for piercing the rock is that the Kadugannawa tunnel was a symbol. The tunnel is said to have been created to fulfill an old Sinhalese prophecy that there is no way to foreigners to rule Kandy, unless they pierce the mountains. The British were the first foreign power to occupy Kandy permanently. Thus, the British went out of their way to include a tunnel on the road. Regrettably, this nice story is disputed, as the

Kurunegala Kurunegala ( si, කුරුණෑගල, ta, குருணாகல்) is a major city in Sri Lanka. It is the capital city of the North Western Province and the Kurunegala District. Kurunegala was an ancient royal capital for 50 years, fr ...

tunnel is claimed to have been constructed earlier (in 1823) to fulfill the prophetic saying.

Kadugannawa Ambalama is a historic wayside rest built a few metres below the Kadugannawa tunnel. It was built in the early 18th century during British colonial rule. During the 19th century it served as a common stopover for horsemen and merchants passing through Kadugannawa pass. It is preserved as archaeological protected monument by the Department of Archeology of Sri Lanka

References

{{Reflist Mountain passes of Sri Lanka Landforms of Kandy District

Geography

History

See also

References