There are some Hindu temples on the Habarana-Polonnaruva road and the Polonnaruva-Hatamuna road. They belong to the 11th - 12th centuries and may have been built when Polonnaruva was under the Chola administration. One of these temples is erroneously called Naipena Vihara. The roof of this temple is made of bricks and is plastered and bears a carving of the cobra-hood on the top, which led the people to call it the Naipena (cobra-hood) shrine. It is actually a Hindu Devale built for God Siva and is surrounded by a wall. Adjacent to this is a Visnu Dévale. The Siva Dévale has the linga in the inner chamber. One ritual practised there is the bathing of the Siva linga. To facilitate this, there is a slab of stone with a drain at the base of the Jinga, an outlet that takes the water out connected to a pit outside. This is a common feature of Siva Devalas. The present Devale is larger than other similar edifices and is made of bricks.

(Heritage of Rajarata by Chandra Wikramagamage P:227)

Unique Sri Lanka

Naipena Viharaya - Vishnu Devala (number 4)

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