Panduwasnuwara Kingdom

Location :

• Sandun Ranasinghe

  23 April 2018

  Nice Ambience with couple of ancient ruins

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• Anuradha Samarage

  08 April 2018

  Quite and calm place with a lot of ancient ruins.

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• Seevali De Abrew

  26 February 2018

  A Glimpse into an Ancient City
  My wife and I arrived here very early in the morning even before the Department of Archaeology opened their offices. There were no security at the entrance nor within the areas where there were ruins.
  There is only one entrance to the palace area. The entrance is protected with a pole across to prevent vehicles moving in. The first thing we noticed were the 5 – 6 metre wide moat and the wide embankment wall about 1.8 metre high surrounding the 20 hectare palace grounds. On the inner side of the entrance are ruins of guard rooms. The moat of course, though dry in some areas today, would have been filled with water to protect the palace grounds. Historically these and the palace buildings date back to the 12th century.
  Once you enter, your eyes draw you to the palace complex situated in the middle of this vast 20 Hectare compound. I imagined myself to be the ancient king, for about an hour, walking through my palace. To enter the palace, you climb 5 steps into the courtyard and walk towards the king’s residential palace. Almost at the very entrance to the palace is an inscription on a stone slab protected by a roof on four wooden pillars! Within the large area occupied by my palace, are many rooms for the royal family as well as many store rooms too. There is a considerable area reserved for the throne (though the throne itself is non-existent now), and I could not help imagining myself being seated on the throne here while receiving VIP guests. The palace compound has a kitchen and a toilet (protected with iron railings). The toilet is special, with the basin made of a kind of cement resembling the colour of modern cement. The unclean water flowing through a gutter is collected outside the building in a pit made with brick and clay with layers of minerals to prevent polluting the environment. The pond adjacent to the palace would have had clean water for bathing. There is also an adjacent separate palace for the Queen mother. There are also number of other smaller buildings associated with the needs of the palace as well as carved pillars and guard stones.
  
  Another important ruin is the “chakrawalaya”, foundation of the ruins of a circular building, believed to have included several stories. This circular foundation is in the middle of a wide bund or a rampart, about 50 metres in diameter, around which is a moat that would have been filled with water in the ancient times. Though the purpose of this circular building has not been established archaeologically there is an interesting legend associated with it.
  “Chitra was the youngest of a family of 11 and the only girl. She grew up to be so pretty that people who saw her desired her at mere sight. Astrologers to the king predicted that if she were to bear a son, he would kill all 10 brothers to become the king. So after she grew up, the brothers imprisoned her in a building on a tower (believed to be this chakrawalaya) being guarded day and night. This could not stop her having a relationship with a prince and becoming pregnant. When the baby boy was born they substituted a new born girl and the boy sent to a village for protection. Eventually the prophesy came true and he killed all his uncles to become one of the great kings of sri lanka who united the country under his rule. This is the Rapunzel story from Sri Lanka.
  NO fees are charged for entry. Though this is off the beaten tourist track, it is an important part of a short period in Sri Lankan history. If you contact the archaeology offices nearby, they will give you a guided tour at no cost. You may tip the guide if you wish to. The archaeological excavations are not over yet and are continuing under the Department of Archaeology with the assistance of archaeology associated post graduate students from various universities.

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• Saranga Perera

  23 February 2018

  Very good place with lot of ruins

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• Nalaka Wickramasingha Senanayake

  15 February 2018

  Great historical place in Sri Lanka

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• Isuru Gunarathna

  24 January 2018

  great place.. best places for relax

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• Tharindu Kodikara

  12 November 2017

  Valuable historic place/ keep the environment clean

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• Nuwan Gunarathne

  17 September 2017

  Ruins of ancient Panduwasnuwara Kingdom. You can visit this on the way to Anuradhapura.

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• Manusha De Silva

  12 September 2017

  Sri Lankans heritageancient valued place
  some old buildings are wonderful.

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• Chandana Wijeratne

  07 August 2017

  Although this kingdom ruled Sri Lanka for a short time period, so much history was unfolding around this area.

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• Milinda Huruggamuwa

  08 July 2017

  Ancient kingdom of srilanka during the 12th century AD. But this city was 1st established by the minister upathissa of king vijaya. You can find tomb of king vijaya 5 km away from the panduwasnuwara kingdom near nikasala monastery.

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• Yasiru Nirmala Herath

  27 June 2017

  Nice location.

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• Amal Indika Warnakulasooriya

  04 January 2017

  Good

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• Piumi Herath

  29 June 2016

  Functioned as the capital of Sri Lanka for a short period of time.

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• Sajith Milan

  27 June 2016

  Most Historical Place

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