Danthure Rajamaha Viharaya

Danthure Rajamaha Viharaya, near Suriyagoda Viharaya in the Yati Nuwara division of Kandy District, is built as an unusual two-storey Tampita structure. The open lower floor serves as a bana maduwa, or preaching hall; the upper floor holds the image house, reached past four central pillars carved with musicians and dancers. Inside, Kandyan-period paintings cover the walls beneath a timber ceiling, and a seated Buddha image sits under a makara torana.

It holds that King Wimaladharmasuriya I planted a Bo-tree sapling brought from Anuradhapura here on his accession to the throne — the same accession that followed the overthrow of the Portuguese-installed ruler Yamasinghe Bandara, after which Konappu Bandara took the throne name Wimaladharmasuriya.

Local heritage sources credit it to Giragama Nilame, the Basnayake Nilame (lay custodian) of the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic, and date it to between 1882 and 1897.