Waterfall in the Ancient city of Ritigala in Sri Lanka
Ritigala mountain is 2 513 feet above sea level and is the highest mountain in northern Sri Lanka The modern name Ritigala is derived from the ancient name mentioned in the Mahavamsa Arittha Pabbata pabbata meaning a mountain and arittha meaning dreadful or alternatively safety It was from here says the great Hindu epic that Hanuman leapt back to India to tell Rama that his kidnapped wife Sita had been found There are at least 70 caves at Ritigala which were prepared for monks between the 1st century BCE and the early centuries CE An inscription in one of these caves mentions that King Lanjatissa the brother of Duttagamini gifted it and he probably founded the first monastery at Ritigala The Culavamsa tells us that King Sena I built a monastery here for the Pansakulika monks and provided it with numerous slaves and servants
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Photo credit: © Helder Filipe / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ancient, arittha, city, landcape, lanka, mahavamsa, pabbata, ritigala, sri, travel, waterfall
