Unawatuna, the onna-wetuna (it fell down now..) paradise

From Ramayana

It is believed that the description of the beach paradises in Valmiki's epic Ramayana includes a description of Unawatuna: a seashore dotted with thousands of trees, coconuts, and palms dominating, strings of houses and hermitages along the coastline, human beings and superior beings such as Gandharvas, Siddhas, and ascetics, living in them and countless bejewelled celestial nymphs thronging the shore, the coast intermittently visited by heavenly beings, Gods and demons.

Unawatuna traces its roots to the epic Ramayana. In the epic, the monkey-warrior Hanuman was sent back to India to fetch the four medicinal herbs, namely, mritasanjeevani, vishalyakarani, suvarnakarani, and sandhani from the Himalayas in order to heal Lakshman who was wounded trying to save the abducted princess Sita from the demon king Ravana.

Hanuman failed to identify these herbs, so he lifted the entire mountain and carried it to the battlefield to try to save Lakshman, but in the process, a chunk of it "fell-down" in the location of the present day Unawatuna, the name of the village meaning "fell down".

Currently, an edifice is being built in honor of Hanuman on the harbour end of Rumassala Hill by some Japanese monks of the Mahayana sect of Buddhism.

Unawatuna's alternate mythology is as follows:

A banished Indian Prince was shipwrecked, and the Goddess of Earth, Manimekala, taking pity created a rocky shelf for him to save his life and that subsequently he headed to Unawatuna. The Goddess of chastity, Pattini, created a wall of fire to prevent him coming ashore, but being a person of some supreme power, he set in motion a tsunami with his foot and extinguished the fire and set foot on the shores of Unawatuna.

It is said that he lived in Unawatuna and helped the people in various ways, and over the years he had been venerated and worshipped and the Koil or the Devalaya on the west end point of the bay which has a history over thousand years is believed to be the abode of this Devol deity.

The Unawatuna Dagoba is special:

Dagoba in Unawatuna

In later years a Buduge, or House of Buddah, and the Swethamalee Chaitiya, or Dagoba, was built on the hillock abutting the Devalaya, or House of Gods. Thousands of pilgrims throng to this place of worship every month of Esala, to offer poojas. This festival is a new-rice offering, so most cultivators bring a share of their crop and pray for timely rain and plentiful harvest. Some others save a fistful of rice from their daily meal and offer that rice, still others would purchase a few measures or even full gunnies of rice along with coconuts to offer.

This rice is pounded and mixed with coconut milk and treacle and made into a porridge which is then offered to the deities at the devalaya and given as alms to thousands of devotees who will trek to the devalaya for this alms-giving or Maha Deva Dana or Kiri Dana. Fisher-folk save and offer part of their earnings called "Goda kotasa" seeking protection on their forays into the ocean.

This year's festival will be held for one week from Esala's (Sinhala Lunar month for July) full moon day of 2006.

Colonial period

The Dutch, after defeating the Portuguese at the Fort of Negombo, sailed south and landed in Unawatuna in 1640 and marched to Galle. The Portuguese had encountered the Dutch soldiers at Magalle (where today Closenburg Hotel is located), and there, fierce fighting took place. Over 400 Dutch soldiers were killed, and only 49 Portuguese could manage to get back to their fortification in Galle, where they were held in siege for four days before they surrendered.

The Dutch built houses for their officials in Unawatuna. These constructions include the Nooit Gedatch hotel, Unawatuna Hospital and the mansion Maharambe. UBR hotel is situated on a land called Parangiyawatta, meaning "land of the Portuguese", and the area nearby is known as Jayakotuwa, suggesting there may have been some fortification.

The Galle tower or Edwards Pillar in Rumassala Hill is believed to have been a fake lighthouse built during World War I, and the area is shown as property of the British Admiralty, in old survey maps.

Eco-Tourism in Una Watuna:

Unawatuna is rich in its biodiversity. Unfortunately, its greatest potential for Eco-tourism, the marshland or mangrove called Kadolana, was completely destroyed, dredged and filled up to build a chain hotel, which never got off the ground, as most people believed it to be damned, being built at the door-step of the Wella Devalaya.

Over sixty species of endemic birds, including Terns, Egrets, Herons, Sandpipers, Kingfishers, and the more rare Lesser Whistling Duck, Asian Palm Swift, White Breasted Waterhen, Turnstone Loten's Sunbird, Black Bittern, had been sighted in the locality by the ornithologist, Clive Byers. These birds are mostly sighted in the remaining marshy area and Rumassala Hillock.

Off the coast of Unawatuna, beneath the placid Indian Ocean lies a wealth of underwater wonderment, including coral reefs, shipwrecks, great variety of fishes and turtles. The turtles still wade on to the shore to lay their eggs, and at times, as if to lay first claim to the sandy shore now invaded by the tourists and dotted by restauranteurs, even go right into the beach-front restaurants .

Rumassala coral reefs at the east end of the Galle Harbour, now endangered with possible Port development is a unique treasure. Eco treks in the shrub jungles of Rumassala bring one close to nature.

Current status in Unwatuna is tidal swept:

The recent Asian Tsunami Tidal wave swept away many a beach front restaurants, which depreciated the sandy beach, to a great extent marring the once natural beauty of the lovely beach that was mooted as one of the twelve best beaches in the world.

The Department of Coast Conservation which was hard pressed to implement a coastal resources management plan under the Asian Development Bank plan, did not spring into action in the aftermath of the Tsunami, and once again the beach front shacks are mushrooming, some even dumping 20 foot steel containers to house their restaurants.

If no action is taken by the Tourism authorities or the Urban Development Authority soon, the Unawatuna Beach will soon be just a dot in Sri Lanka maps. Whilst the Opposition party is touting an anti 100 metre buffer zone, the Government Party stalwarts are encouraging their henchmen to occupy even private lands by the beach.

Unawatuna is the number one beach destination in Sri Lanka, the sleepy fishing hamlet Unawatuna has a mythical and historical past, which makes it a very special place.

(Wikipedia)