යඨාල මහා සෑය ( යටාල දළදා වෙහෙර )- තිස්සමහාරාම පූජා භූමිය | Yatala Stupa — Attraction in Sri Lanka

Magama in the south is an important city as old as the historical kingdom of Anuradhapura. Just like Raja Raat, Ruhunu Desha also has many shrines of historical value that should be visited by past kings.

Yatala Pagoda, which is considered to be the first Pagoda in Ruhuna, is one such ancient shrine.

The sight of this stupa catches the eye near the road between Debarawewa junction and Charagoda junction on the Hambantota Kataragama road. Later, during the construction of the highway, this archaeologically valuable sacred site has been divided.

Yatala Chaitya, Tissamaharama Stupa and Sandagiriya Stupa, are equally important and this one is slightly smaller than the two dagabs. Even so, it is said that this is the first pagoda in Ruhuna.

History explains that the Yatala Pagoda was built in the second century BC. According to inscriptional factors, this stupa has been identified as Dalada Da Gaba.

The historical story confirms that the beloved pregnant queen of the young king Mahanaga gave birth to a son prince in this place and naming the infant son as 'Yatalatissa', the place where the prince was born and a pagoda was built there in memory of the prince.

'Yatala' is the name of that village. 'Tissa' is the name given to the prince. Accordingly it was named 'Yatala Tissa'. It is also possible that the great stupa was named after a prince because of the power of privileges enjoyed by the aristocracy of a royal lineage. But as a monument of a sacred Buddhist heritage that surpasses that power, this stupa should be honored more.

It is said that this underground pagoda was able to stand up for the protection of the Tooth Relic due to foreign invasions.

It has been confirmed from the inscriptions found during archaeological excavations that Yatala Stupa was also known as Dalada Dagaba because the tooth relic had been brought from Rajarata to Ruhuna when Rajarata faced enemy threats and was stored in this dagabe for its safety.

The Yatalatissa Stupa that exists today is a reconstruction of a former ruins. However, the ancient remains that provide data that there was a temple complex in this area can still be seen today.

Archaeologists have been able to uncover an ancient foundation of an ivory wall about 3 feet below today's ground. There are four wahalkadas open to the four directions, stone slabs and old bricks are scattered all over the place. Some historical factors have been destroyed in many eras of reforms and changes.

However, archeological researches have confirmed 3 main eras in Dagabe. BC The oldest part belongs to the era and the second part belongs to AD. A single Pesava section was built in the 4th century. After that in AD It belongs to the construction done in 1884.

Although we are talking about Yatala Tissa as a priority here, it is true that this was a sacred site with unique monuments in a wide temple complex. If such a temple complex is built from BC era, it can be imagined that there was a species there. It is not unreasonable to think that Maharahat Vahanasela was enriched in such a temple complex if he laid his hands on the name of the first Maharahat in Sri Lanka.

This implies the origin of the historical town of Ruhunu, which is related to the love of Mahanaga's brother, who was related by blood with King Devanampiyatissa. Also, Anuradhapura which is a historical heritage at one end and Ruhunu Magama and Yakarana at the other end are strong factors of the...

Yatala Vehera (also spelled Yatala Wehera) is an ancient Buddhist stupa located in Deberawewa - Thissamaharama area in Hambantota District of Sri Lanka. The stupa is built on a stage made of large flat granite stones and has a surrounding wall of sculpted elephant heads, a moat and a large moonstone.[2] It is believed that the stupa was built 2300 years ago by regional king Yatala Thissa of Ruhuna to commemorate the place where he was born. However some believe that the stupa was built by regional king Mahanaga, father of Yatala Thissa to mark the birth of his son.

In various historical documents and chronicles, this stupa has been also referred as Mani Chethiya and Yattalaya.[4] It is not known what was enshrined in this stupa but a large number of relic caskets has been discovered in the stupa. It is believed that this stupa was offered to Arhant Arittha Thero, who was the first Sinhalese arhant, by the regional king of Ruhuna.[5] This stupa is also believed to be the first stupa built in the kingdom of Ruhuna.[5] The restoration work of the Yatala dagaba commenced in 1883 AD and It took over a century to complete the restoration. A small opening has been left in the renovated stupa to observe the different phases of construction.

යටාල වෙහෙර හෙවත් දළදා දාගැබ ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ දකුණු පළාතේ පිහිටා ඇති පුරාණ දාගැබක් වන අතර එය මහානාග යුවරජු විසින් කරවන ලද්දක් වේ. රහතන් වහන්සේලා වැඩසිටි ස්ථානයක් වු මෙය රුහුණු මාගම රාජධානිය තුල ඉදිකරන ලද ප්‍රථම චෛත්‍යය වශයෙන් සැලකෙන අතර[1] කලක් දළදාව නිදන් කර තිබී[2] ඇත.[3] ස්ථූපය හම්බන්තොට - කතරගම මාර්ගයේ දෙබරවැව හා අකුරුගොඩ ප්‍රදේශ අතර තිස්සමහාරාම දාගැබට කිලෝ මීටර 1 1/2 පමණ දුරින් පිහිටා තිබේ.

සිය බිසව පිරිමි දරුවෙකු බිහිකල පසුබිම මත[4], මහානාග රජු විසින් ක්‍රිස්තු පූර්ව 3වන සියවසේදී පමණ යටාල වෙහෙර ඉදිකෙරූ බව සඳහන් වේ. පැරණි ඉතිහාසමය මූලාශ්‍රයන්හී මෙම වෙහෙර, මණි චේතිය නමින් හඳුන්වා තිබේ.[5] ඉදිකොට නිමකරනු ලැබූ ස්ථූපය ත්‍රිපිටකාරිට්ඨ හිමියන්ට පූජා කළ බව ලළාට ධාතු වංශයේ සඳහන් වෙයි.

ස්ථූපය වටා සතර දිසාවට විවර වූ වාහල්කඩ හතරක් දැකගත හැකිවන අතර එහි සිදුකල පුරාවිද්‍යා ගවේෂණ අනූව එහි ඉදිකිරීම් ප්‍රධාන යුග 3 කට අයත් බව තහවුරු කොට ගෙන තිබේ. පැරණිම කොටස කි‍්‍රස්තු පූර්ව යුගයට අයත් වන අතර, දෙවන කොටස සේ සැළකෙන තනි පේසාව කොටස ක්‍රිස්තු වර්ෂ 4වන සියවසට අයත් වේ. වර්ෂ 1884 දි කළ ඉදිකිරීම් තුන්වැනි සමයට අයත්ය.[1]

ස්ථූපය වටා ගල්කණු, ගල් පුවරු හා පැරණි ගඩොල් ආදිය විසිර පවතී. මීට අමතරව විහාරයේ නව සංඝාවාසය අසල විශාල ආසනඝර ගොඩනැගිල්ලක නටබුන් දැකගත හැකිවේ. සිදුකල පුරාවිද්‍යා කැණීම් වලදී පිහිටි පොළවට අඩි 3 ක් පමණ යටින් පැරණි ඇත් පවුරක අත්තිවාරමක්ද මතු කොට ගෙන...

Yatala Vehera is a Buddhist stupa that dates back to the 3rd century B.C. It stands on a foundation of large flat granite stones and features a surrounding wall adorned with sculpted elephant heads, which some researchers suggest may be one of the earliest examples of such a design. The site also includes a moat and a prominent moonstone. Historical accounts indicate that the stupa was built around 2300 years ago by regional king Yatala Thissa of Ruhuna to mark his birthplace. However, some sources propose that it was constructed by King Mahanaga, Yatala Thissa’s father, to commemorate his son’s birth.

Today the stupa is fully restored but you can see how it looked like by visiting the backside where small portion is left as is. The weli maluwa of this stupa is under water now and it's visible as a moat of old castle. One of the striking features of this stupa is having several image houses built in different eras which is bit unusual. Now you can see only the foundations but you can see how distinct they are. Apart from that various ruins can be seen. Some can be identified as stone tables to place offerings.

According to archeological evidence this stupa was also called dalada stupa which means that secred tooth relic of lord Buddha was enshrined at least sometime in the past. The stupa grounds seem to be well maintained and very quiet and peaceful. The temple associated to stupa can be found otherside of the road. The separation happened because of the road built during British rule. You can find the largest Vajrasana found in Sri Lanka in that temple.

Next to the stupa you can find the archeological museum which is worth visiting. You could find head of lord Buddha made from moonstone which is exquisite.

Overall it's must visit place for Buddhists or anyone interested in...