Who built Ruwanweliseya Stupa and when?

Ruwanweliseya Stupa was built by King Dutugamunu, who reigned over Sri Lanka from approximately 161 to 137 BC. He commissioned it as a major act of Buddhist devotion after unifying the island. The stupa was completed by his successors and has been restored and maintained across the centuries.

How tall is Ruwanweliseya Stupa?

The restored stupa stands approximately 55 metres tall, though some historical accounts suggest the original structure may have been taller. It is the most revered of Anuradhapura's major stupas, even if not the tallest — Abhayagiri and Jetavana both exceed it in height.

What is the elephant wall around Ruwanweliseya?

The elephant wall is a continuous frieze of stone elephant figures that encircles the base platform of the stupa, creating the impression that the elephants are supporting the dome on their backs. In Buddhist tradition the elephant symbolises strength and wisdom. The wall is one of the most distinctive architectural features of Ruwanweliseya and has been partially restored.

Is Anuradhapura a UNESCO World Heritage Site?

Yes. The Sacred City of Anuradhapura was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1982 as a site of outstanding universal cultural value. Ruwanweliseya Stupa lies within the protected Sacred City precinct, alongside other major ancient monuments including the Sri Maha Bodhi and Jetavana Stupa.

What festival is celebrated at Ruwanweliseya?

The Poson Poya festival in June is the most important annual event at Ruwanweliseya. It marks the introduction of Buddhism to Sri Lanka by Arahat Mahinda during the reign of King Devanampiya Tissa. Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims travel to Anuradhapura for this full-moon observance.

Can tourists enter Ruwanweliseya Stupa itself?

The interior of the stupa is not open to visitors — like most ancient dagobas, it is a solid masonry structure. Visitors and pilgrims walk around the exterior platform, make offerings at the four cardinal shrines, and visit the surrounding temple buildings. The experience of circumambulation alongside devout pilgrims is itself a significant part of any visit.

How long does a visit to Ruwanweliseya and the Anuradhapura Sacred City take?

Ruwanweliseya alone can be appreciated in around an hour, but the Sacred City contains many other significant monuments. A thorough visit to the main sites — including Jetavana, Abhayagiri, Sri Maha Bodhi, Isurumuniya, and Mirisavatiya — typically takes a full day. Hiring a bicycle or tuk-tuk within the precinct makes it far easier to cover the distances between sites.

What is the best way to reach Anuradhapura from Colombo?

The intercity train from Colombo Fort is a popular and reasonably comfortable option, with a journey time of around four hours. By road, the drive takes three to four hours via the A9 highway or a combination of the expressway and provincial roads. A private driver gives you the flexibility to combine Anuradhapura with nearby heritage sites such as Sigiriya or Polonnaruwa in a single itinerary.

Ruwanweliseya Stupa

Ruwanweliseya Stupa (Ruwanveli Seya Stupa), the foremost of the supremely glorious ancient living monuments of Sinhalese Buddhist Heritage at the city of Anuradhapura (a UNESCO World Heritage Site-Culture) was built by King Dutugamunu (161-137 BC), the Hero of the Nation, who hailed from Ruhuna, which was destined to give birth to most of the glorious heroes of the island nation of Sri Lanka from the ancient era to the modern day. Ruwanweliseya Stupa (Ruwanveli Seya Stupa) also called Maha Stupa (Sinhala: the great dagoba) or Ratnapali Stupa or Swarnamali stupa has been the most adored, most venerated among the great ancient stupas (dagobas) of Sri Lanka. Anuradhapura is replete with the ancient cultural monuments located in between the River Malwatu Oya and two great ancient man-made irrigation reservoirs called Tissa Wewa and Abhaya Wewa (Basawakkulama Wewa). These two ancient irrigation reservoirs, together with ancient Nuwara Wewa reservoir on the eastern flank of the River Malwatu Oya, extend the lifeline to the agricultural district of Anuradhapura.

The three main ancient stupas clustered south of the ruined Southern wall of Anuradhapura, namely Ruwanweliseya Stupa, Mirisavatiya Dagaba and Jetavana Stupa perfectly align with the celestial layout of Rigel, Mintaka and Bellatrix, three of the seven stars of the Orion constellation, which was associated with Osiris, the sun-god of rebirth and afterlife, by the ancient Egyptians (3150 BC-conventional Egyptian chronology).

And Anuradapura of Sri Lanka (SL Low gravity anomaly: -104m geoid), though far south of Bodh Gaya of Northern India, is only three and a half degrees west of it. Bodh Gaya, the location where Gauthama Buddha attained Supreme enlightenment, is considered Patavi Nahbi (Sanskrit: naval of the Earth), according to the Buddhist cosmology. Bodh Gaya’s antipode, on the other side of the world, that can be connected by an axis running through the very centre of the Earth, is the Temple of the Sun (referred to as the naval of the universe) of the Mayans (3114 BC Mesoamerican Long Count calendar) at the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Cuzco (Quechua, the Inca language: the navel of the universe) nearby Machu Picchu, the lost city of the Mayans.

Added to the inexplicable cosmological and geographical mysteries associated with Ruwanweliseya Stupa (Ruwanveli Seya Stupa), is the fact that locations for the construction of Ruwanweliseya and Mirisavatiya were determined by a couple of extraordinary circumstances. Still more astonishi