Kelaniya Raja Maha Viharaya

 Kelaniya Raja Maha Viharaya 

     

               The kelaniya Raja Maha Viharaya is a Buddhist temple in kelaniya Sri Lanka.lt is located 11km north-east of Colombo. The main approaches of the vihara is the road that leads to Biyagama from the 4th mile of the Colombo-Kandy road. The sanctuary is sited on a higher plain ignoring the waterway Kelani that streams in front.                                          The temple has often been associated with the rise and fall of Ceylon / Sri Lanka, with the popular saying that as the Kelaniya temple rose, Sri Lanka rose and as it fell, the country and its administration fell. It has thus had a deep association with the political powers of the country.

It is also infamous for Mapitigama Buddharakkitha, the chief conspirator of the 1959 assassination of Ceylon's fourth Prime Minister S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike.Buddharakkitha was the chief incumbent (chief priest) of the Kelaniya Raja Maha Vihara from 1947 to 1959. 

Buddhists believe the temple to have been hallowed during the third and final visit of the Buddha to Sri Lanka, eight years after gaining enlightenment.Its history would thus go back to before 500 BCE. The Mahawansa records that the original Stupa at Kelaniya enshrined a gem-studded throne on which the Buddha sat and preached. The temple flourished during the Kotte era but much of its land was confiscated during the Portuguese empire. Under the Dutch empire, however, there were new gifts of land and under the patronage of King Kirthi Sri Rajasingha the temple was rebuilt. It was refurbished in the first half of the 20th century with the help of Helena Wijewardana.

The Kelaniya Stupa enshrined a gem-studded throne on which the Buddha sat and preached. Lord Budhdha's second visit to Nagadeepaya, Sri Lanka was in the fifth year of enlightenment to settle a dispute between two Naga Kings, Chulodara and Mahodara over the possession of a Gem Studded throne. After having listened to the Dhamma sermons by Buddha the Naga kings paid homage to Buddha with overwhelming faith and the throne was offered to Lord Buddha by two Naga kings. The Naga King Maniakkika- Ruler of Kelaniya who also listened to Lord Budhdha's Dhamma sermons pleaded for a souvenir to worship. So the throne was gifted to him by Lord Budhdha. King Maniakkika in turn constructed a Cetiya (Stupa) covering the Gem studded Throne in Kelaniya for thousands of devotees to worship and invited lord Budhdha to visit the holy site.