Ramakale monastery, (near) Sigiriya, Central Province, SL

Raw data

Ramakale or Mahanaga Pabbata Vihara, near Sigiriya
(est. c. 5th century AD?)
www.arkeologi.uu.se/afr/projects/BOOK/Bandaranayake/bandaranayake.pdf
Input by: tmciolek, Jan 24 2009

"Sigiriya too had Buddhist monasteries forming an integral part of the urban site: Pidurangala to the north and Ramakale to the south."
http://www.mysrilankaholidays.com/sigiriya.html

"Ramakele (Mahanaga Pabbata Vihara) was a monastery, one of several monastery sites in the area including Sigiriya itself. You can see its partly conserved stupa on the right side of the road when coming to Sigiriya from Dambulla.
Near Sigiriya Vava are two other rocks which are, like Sigiriya, associated with archaeological sites. The larger one, ‘Mapagala’ (‘Rock of the Viceroy’), is a fortress with massive stone walls. Nearby is smaller ‘Petangala’, associated with the remains of a monastery."
http://www.jica.go.jp/project/srilanka/0701462/materials/pdf/map.pdf

Final data (and their sources)

Last updated: 09 Jul 2014

Lat/Long coordinates' accuracy:
The monastery in question is assumed to be situated actually no farther than 200m from the point defined by the coordinates below.

Location of Ramakale monastery, Sri Lanka.

General location of the Ramakale monastery, Sri Lanka.
Lat 7.9489 Long 80.7473
Mapping & images: Falling Rain Genomics (http://maps.fallingrain.com), 2009.


Google Map link:

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=7.9489+80.7473+(Approx.%20loc.%20of%20the%20Ramakale%20monastery,%20SL)&ll=7.9489,80.7473&spn=05.0,05.0&t=k&hl=en


Final data - explanatory notes

1. Monastery's name

  • Ramakale monastery www.arkeologi.uu.se/afr/projects/BOOK/Bandaranayake/bandaranayake.pdf

2. Monastery's modern country & province


3. Monastery's alternative/historical names

  • Mahanaga Pabbata Vihara - www.arkeologi.uu.se/afr/projects/BOOK/Bandaranayake/bandaranayake.pdf

4. Monastery's lat/long coordinates

  • Approx. Lat 7.9489 Long 80.7473 - based on the visual identification of the site in satellite imagery, maps.google.com - tmciolek, 9 Sep 2012.

5. Other known nearby Buddhist monasteries


6. Modern name of the known nearest city, town, or village


7. The settlement's alternative/historical names

  • [missing data]

8. The settlement's coordinates


9. Monastery's major Buddhist tradition

  • Theravada

10. Monastery's Buddhist sub-tradition

  • [missing data]

11. Date-early

  • est. c. 5th century AD? - www.arkeologi.uu.se/afr/projects/BOOK/Bandaranayake/bandaranayake.pdf

MBM chrono-tag 0433-66p - tmciolek 09 Jul 2014
0433-66p 0467-99c 0500-32c 0533-66c 0567-99c 0600-32c 0633-66c 0667-99c 0700-32c 0733-66c 0767-99c 0800-32c 0833-66c 0867-99c 0900-32c 0933-66c 0967-99c 1000-32c 1033-66c 1067-99c 1100-32c 1133-66c 1167-99c 1200=> dated-el


12. Date-intermediate

  • [missing data]

13. Date-late

  • "Kashyapa was defeated in 495 CE by Moggallana, who [turned into Sigiriya into a Buddhist monastery and] moved the capital back to Anuradhapura. Sigiriya was then turned into a Buddhist monastery, which lasted until the 13th or 14th century." - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigiriya

MBM chrono-tag 1200=> - tmciolek 09 Jul 2014


14. Details of contacts with other monasteries

  • [missing data]

15. Type of evidence regarding the monastery

  • archaeological

16. Additional notes

  • [missing data] (incl. details of the size of the monastic population)….

17. Corrections & addenda to this page were kindly provided by

  • [missing data]

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