Kundasale ( si, කුණ්ඩසාලේ, translit=Kuṇḍasālē; ta, குண்டசாலை, translit=Kuṇṭacālai) is a former town, now a suburb of
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
Kandy District
Kandy District ( si, මහනුවර දිස්ත්රික්කය, ta, கண்டி மாவட்டம்) is a district of the Central Province of Sri Lanka. Its area is 1906.3 km².
Administrative divisions
Ethnic ...
,
Central Province of
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
. The town is situated to the southeast of the centre of Kandy. The population is about 150,000.
History
King Vira Parakrama Narendra Sinha, the last
Sinhalese
Sinhala may refer to:
* Something of or related to the Sinhalese people of Sri Lanka
* Sinhalese people
* Sinhala language, one of the three official languages used in Sri Lanka
* Sinhala script, a writing system for the Sinhala language
** Sinha ...
King of Kandy
The Kandyan monarchs ruled the Kingdom of Kandy on the island of Sri Lanka from 1469 to 1815. The Kingdom was first established by Senasammata Vikramabahu, a royal from the Kingdom of Kotte, when he led the secession of the Kande uda pas rata ( ...
, decided in 1710 to move his palace from Kandy to Kundasale. He instructed the local governor, Ramukwelle Dissawe, to construct the palace complex. Rambukwelle Dissawe engaged the services of a builder, Devendra, who built the palace completely out of wood on top of a hill in a garden, ''Narikele''.
The palace is purported to have been more a summer palace rather than a royal palace. He was the first and the last king to have Kundasale as the capital of the Kandyan Kingdom. The king died in May 1739 and in 1804 British troops under the command of Captain Arthur Johnson attacked the palace, plundered its valuables and burnt it to the ground.
The building's remnants were used in the construction of the nearby Sri Narendrasinhe Rajamaha
Viharaya. The two stone elephant carvings at the main entrance, ''Mahawahalkada'', of
Sri Dalada Maligawa (Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic) are said to have come from the ruins of the Kundasale Palace. They were however destroyed in the
1989 attack on the temple by the
Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna
Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP; ) is a Marxist–Leninist communist party and a former militant organization in Sri Lanka. The movement was involved in two armed uprisings against the government of Sri Lanka: once in 1971 (SLFP), and anot ...
.
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References
Populated places in Kandy District
{{KandyDistrict-geo-stub