Namal pokuna Pabbata-vihara

There are ruins of an ancient monastery building at Namalpokuna at Dimbulagala, which are assumed to belong to the 12th century. It is situated near the Dimbulagala rock and belongs to the 'pabbatavihara' type of monastery. The monuments like the chapter house, image house, stupa and Bo-tree shrine are enclosed by a wall 3 ft wide and 4 ft high. The entire pabbata monastery complex is enclosed by a wall 97.60 m long and 83 m wide. To the south of the main gateway is the Bo-tree shrine, and near it a small building. This is perhaps the stone seat shrine, and it may have been a part of the Bo-tree shrine itself. If the circular stone slab on a platform enclosed by four stone pillars is taken as a seat, round stone slabs may also have been used as seats instead of square ones. The entrance had a moonstone, guard stones, and balustrades.

Chapter House

The building used by monks for their ecclesiastical purposes is called the chapter house. This building which is a feature in most monasteries, has also been regarded as a sacred one, although a_ sacred object in it for veneration was not considered necessary. The chapter house of the Namalpokuna Pabbata-vihara is a building 21x14 m. The entrance has a flight of steps and some stone pillars in ruins. There are 11 standing pillars. The presence of clay tiles in the vicinity proves that the monument had a roof with clay tiles.

The Image House

The image house of the Namalpokuna Pabbata-vihara is15.20x 11 meters. Thereis evidence of a sand-court around the image house which was enclosed by a wall. At the entrance is a moonstone without carvings, but guard stones and balustrades are missing. However, on either side of the flight of steps at the entrance to the vestibule of the image house, there are guard stones and balustrades. The balustrade is not carved. The presence of a large number of stone pillars shows that there had been a roof for the monument. The image here is about 2.55 meters. There are no folds in the robe. The image and the seat are carved out of the same rock. Stylistically, the image belongs to the Polonnaruva period. There is also an additional entrance to the image house.

The stupa

To the south of the main entrance to the Pabbata-vihara is the stupa, which is the oldest. The monument here, the brick-built stupa, probably belongs to the first phase of the Anuradhapura period and is 36.50 m in circumference. It has now been conserved to a height of 4.50 m. Two basal rings can be identified, and the stupa is in the centre of a stone-paved square terrace. There are gateways to the stupa on the north, east and west, but the one on the south is completely destroyed. The umbrella and taste of the original stupa are seen nearby, which suggests that the stupa belongs to a period prior to the 7th century.

(Heritage of Rajarata by Chandra Wikramagamage P:253-254)

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Namal Pokuna Aramic Complex at Dimbulagala

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