ආහාර විසවී අපවත්වුන සංගමිත්තා තෙරණිය සමඟ වැඩි රහත් හැටනමේ භෂ්මාවශේෂ තැම්පත් කල යාපනය කදුරුගොඩ විහාරය

ආහාර විසවී අපවත්වුන සංගමිත්තා තෙරණිය සමඟ වැඩි රහත් හැටනමේ භෂ්මාවශේෂ තැම්පත් කල යාපනය කදුරුගොඩ විහාරය

Kadurugoda Viharaya at Kantarodai Jaffna – කදුරුගොඩ විහාරය – ‍යාපනය
Ancient Kadurugoda Viharaya (Kantarodai) is one of the very ancientfew Buddhist sites remaining in Jaffna today.

The site of Kadurugoda was discovered in 1917 by the Magistrate P.E. Pieris where he reported that bricks from this site is being carried a way by cart loads by the residents around the area for building of houses. An excavation done in the 1917-1919 has unearthed remains of a shrine room, parts of Buddha Statues, Bodhisattva statues, Buddha foot imprints and coins belonging to pre christian era.

Kantarodai (Kadurugoda) in Chunnakam (Hunugama) has been identified as the Kadurugoda Viharaya in the Nam Pota, a book of important Buddhist centers in Sri Lanka, compiled in the Kandyan period.
The term Kantarodai (also spelled Kantharodai, Kandarodai) is a corrupted form of the Sinhalese word Kandavurugoda or site of a military encampment. The Kandavurugoda became Kadurugoda and then it has been later tamilised in to Kantarodai.

In 1917, P.E. Pieris has located 56 Stupas in the area but today only about 20 remains. The largest is about 23 feet in diameter and the smallest is about 6 feet. There are also number of foundations of stupas which have disappeared. The stupas are made of coral stone and is gray in colour. They have a very distinguished design with small cavities all over. The stupas doesn’t have the standard”Hathares Kotuwa” above the dome. Instead a pinnacle is fixed to the top of the dome.

P. E. Pieris and D. Litt published an extensive article in The Journal of the Ceylon Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland Vol. 26, No. 70, Part I. in 1917 which covers the ruins of Kadurugoda in detail. This is most detailed and comprehensive account of the ruins of Kadurugoda in the early 20th century available today.

On certain information received I next visited the village of Kantarodai, which, as already pointed out, is the Sinhalese Kadurugoda. The intermediate stage in the development of the name appears in Mascarenhas’ foral. where the village Candaracudde is assessed for the Land Tax at 37 pardaos. 1 chacran 17½ fanams; and for the Poll Tax at 6. 1. 10. At the last census the population consisted of 444 males and 437 females. The termination goda being pronounced by the Tamil as koda (cudde), soon developed into oda and the Tamil odai, so that in deeds of the middle of the last century the village even appears Odai Kurichchi. The descriptive name goda can be well applied to the village, as the undulating nature of the ground is very noticeable in this flat country. It is situated six miles south by west of Kankesanturai, and adjoins Uduvil, a village which is entitled to much more attention than it has yet received, if it be only by virtue of its important tank.
Tlie size and massive construction of its bund, a portion of which is now converted into a coconut garden, as well as the laige stretches of rice fields which are adjacent, indicate an extensive scheme of irrigation. The tank itself is connected with three others, and a large channel leading from it still survives in spite of all the encroaching activity of adjoining landowners. Kantarodai and Vduvil, with Chunnakam, form the centre of the solid western chunk of the Peninsula which hears the Sinhalese name of Yalikamam. and they are links in the chain of Sinhalese names, including Tellipalai, VimankAmam, Mallakam, Chunnakam, Uduvil, Inuvil, Kondavil, and Kokkuvil, which ronnec t Kankesanturai with the Capital.


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