With cool breeze blowing from the direction of the tank nearby, the Udubaddawa Newakada Selgiri Vihara also known as Newakada Shailagiri Vihara stands majestically as a unique Buddhist place of worship. This temple, in the Udubaddawa Divisional Secretariat Division in the Bingiriya electorate in Kurunegala, is popular among devotees due to a stone-curved standing Buddha statue in the temple precincts.
According to folklore, when Prince Thaniyawallabha ruled the Madampe area, the Newakada temple was used as a hiding place which provided him with enough security. Prince Thaniyawallabha, who was a popular local ruler during the Kotte Kingdom, was a son of King Weeraparakramabhahu VIII also known as Ambulagala Kumara, who was the King of Kotte in the 15th century (1484-1518). He begot five sons by two wives (Two Keerawalle princesses) who were sisters. It was the second queen who gave birth to Sakalakalawallabha and Thaniyawallabha.
As the sons grew older, the king divided his kingdom into five regions and allowed them to rule those areas as regional kings. It was then that Prince Thaniyawallabha was entrusted with the task of ruling the Madampe area. Permanently living in Madampe and ruling the territory under his authority, he had frequented the neighbouring villages too including Newakada.
The rocky hill in the temple precincts, overlooking the 30-acre tank is a picturesque relief which is the cynosure of the site. The tank adjacent to the hill is known as Newakada tank. The word Newakada is thought of as a corruption of the term Newa kada (napu mankada), the place where the King bathed. According to the villagers, when the tank dries up, a stone slab said to have been used by the King for sharpening his sword can be seen and this stone slab has now come to be known as ‘kadugegala’.
The giant Buddha statue carved out of the rock is the most amazingly eye-catching creation in the upper terrace of the temple precincts. The Buddha statue is 56 feet in height and depicts “Vithartha and Kataka Hastha Muddra” (hand gestures). It took the local sculptors almost nine years to complete this marvellous creation in which the Buddha’s immeasurable loving-kindness has been enshrined. The statue is unique in a class by itself by not being a replica of another standing Buddha statue in the country. Chief Incumbent of the temple, Ven. Alankulame Pemasiri Thera, in whose mind the picture of the statue with the Buddha’s immeasurable moral virtues first germinated, was a tower of strength behind this creation.
No sooner had I entered the temple premises than I felt as if I were in a ruined, historic Buddhist place of worship in that the parapet wall enclosing the site. The pond and the two figures of a lion couchant, made of rock add grandeur to the giant standing Buddha statue opposite them.
A stupa has been built on a natural rocky platform overlooking the main entrance which has a regal look because of the bricked walls reminiscent of ruins of an era long gone. Beside the stupa is a Bo tree surrounded by a circular granite wall. The temple premises has several sandy terraces which make the site look so impressive and ancient. Also, there are accessways connecting each terrace with something special to worship or look at with awe.
