  Galmaduwa Gedige
On our way to the beautiful
Knuckles Range, we stopped by Kalapura. It is a little known town about
five kilometres east of the main Mahiyangana road. Here lies the unusual
and rather unique temple resembling one of the Angkor Wat temples in
Cambodia.
This bizarre shrine is enclosed in a cloister-like stone structure
called the ‘gedige’, and ‘Galmaduwa’ refers to its stone structure and
the pyramid that can be seen at the top called the ‘gopura’. The lower
floor is made of stone and the upper ones are of brick and stone. It has
intricate stone carvings lining its walls and a beautiful structure.
The temple is a Kandyan version of a South Indian temple showing the
blend of both cultures.
A restoration took place in 1967 where an image house was added to
the temple and an ambulatory was added later. King Kirthi Sri Rajasinha
(1747-1780) built this shrine and according to publications by A. C.
Lawrie, a British judge serving in Kandy at the time, while the shrine
was being built, King Kirthi Sri heard of a new cave discovered at
Degaldoruwa and stopped the work at Galmaduwa.
 According to caretaker Jayaratne, “We don’t use the building as a
temple but offerings are made in the small vihara next to it”. He said
that the small temple was built by the local villagers since they could
not raise sufficient funds to complete the main ‘gedige’ but also needed
a temple as a place of worship.
For political reasons, when the Dutch invaded Kandy in 1763, Governor
Baron von Eck was held in it for a few months for offending the King.
The shrine is still strong with its stone foundation very much in place
and is maintained well and an Archaeological Department preservation
sign ensures that it is protected. It is one of the few obsure temples
worth seeing on your way to Mahiyangana and it reveals the artistic
talent of a historical era. |
