Mahiyanganaya is associated with the story of the first visit of the Buddha to Sri Lanka. Therefore, the history of the temple goes to the 6tth century B.C.
Chronicles such as Mahawamsa record that the Buddha visited the island in the 9th month of the Buddhahood on a Duruthu Full Moon Day, to subdue Yakkhas who had assembled at the site of the modern Mahiyangana stupa. The Buddha is said to have appeared at the Meenaga garden, the customary meeting place of the Yakkhas and dispersed them to an island named Giridivaina. Afterwards the Buddha preached the Dhamma to the Gods who had gathered there and as a result, some of the Gods attained Margapala.
After hearing the Dhamma, the Prince of Devas: Mahasumana of the Samanthakuta mountain asked the Buddha for something to worship and the Buddha gave him a handful of his hair. Mahasumana is said to have enshrined the hair at the stupa where the Buddha sat and built a stupa.
About 44 years later (after the passing away of the Buddha), an arahant named ven. Sorabhu Thera, a disciple of arahant Sariputta Thera, received the Greeva Dhathu (neck bone) of the Buddha from the funeral pyre and brought it to Sri Lanka. According to the Mahawamsa, King Devanampiyatissa got his brother Moolabhaya to deposit the relic of Greeva Dhathu and enlarge the stupa to a height of 30 cubic feet.
According to legends the Mahiyangana stupa was built during the lifetime of the Buddha. Therefore, this stupa could be one of the earliest Buddha monasteries in the world. The stupa of Mahiyangana was reconstructed on many occasions. Devanampiyatissa, Dutugemunu and Kirthi Sri Rajasinghe were some of the kings who contributed to the development of the temple.
In 1942, a society was formed for the renovation of the temple under the late Prime Minister D. S. Senanayake. Renovation work began in 1963 and ended in 1980 with the completion of a new pinnacle for the stupa.
