The Nagalakanda forest monastery is at Nagalakanda, Minneriya in the Polonnaruwa district. The distance from the Minneriya town to this sacred site is about one and a half kilometres. The approach road that runs through a forest is in a motorable condition.
Believed to have been erected by King Mahasen (276-301 A.D.) who ruled from Anuradhapura, the monastery was known among the locals as Minneriya Maha Vehera. The sacred site is at the foot of the Minneriya Tank which is still the main source of income of the thousands of farmer families. History says that King Mahasen built a temple called Mahasen Vehera and scholars believe that this could be that vehera.
King Mahasen is worshipped as “Minneri Deviyo” by the people even today as a tribute to his enormous contribution towards agricultural, irrigation and the country’s economy. The king had paid his attention to the spiritual development of the masses too.
As you enter the Nagalakanda sacred site, you will witness a picturesque scene of a pond, a rock cut steps and some Araliya trees.
The Department of Archaeology carried out excavations on the site in 2003 under the Polonnaruwa Alahana Pirivena project and unearthed a large number of ruins scattered all over the site including image houses, stupas, an Uposathagara, stone cut steps and foundations of several ruined buildings. The most fascinating feature of the site is the standing Buddha statue of the first image house.
The Buddha statue which is 28 metres in height is said to have been carved out of a solid block of dolomite marble which was not carved out at the site but was made from somewhere else and transported to the site. Archaeologists say that this is a creation belonging to the 8th century A.D.
There is a huge Dagaba which is being renovated by the Department of Archaeology at the site. Ruins of an octagonal shrine room can also be seen here.
The monastery functions as a forest hermitage at present. The hermitage has become the austere abode of a sect of bhikkhus who had been attracted to the site because of its isolation and seclusion.
