NAGADEEPAYA
Half the enjoyment of a pilgrimage to Nagadeepa is actually getting there. The road from Jaffna runs across a long causeway to the island of Kayts from where another causeway leads to Punkudutivu. The landscape is flat and sandy, dotted with numerous palm trees and completely different from everywhere else in Sri Lanka. On the far side of this second island one must take a boat to Nainativ where there are two jetties, one at the Hindu temple and another at Nagadeepa Vihara. If most of the passengers are Hindus the boat stops at the former and if most are Buddhists it stops at the latter. Public and private buses run regularly from Jaffna to Punkudutivu and the boat is timed to leave just after the bus arrives. The total distance from Jaffna is 30 km. At the time of writing it was possible to get to Nagadvipa but this may change as the political situation changes.
The Nagadeepa Purana Rajamaha Viharaya is a shining example of inter racial harmony in Sri lanka and this had been improved at various stages and ever since it has become the most sanctified place of worship by the devotees.Nainativ is one of the smallest inhabited islands in the Gulf of Mannar and is only about 35 miles from India. Merchants have long come here and the surrounding islands to buy the conch shells that are harvested in the warm shallow waters in the Gulf.
The Nagadeepa Purana Rajamaha Viharaya is one of the sixteen most sacred places of worship by the Buddhists in Sri Lanka. Pilgrims have been coming to the Nagadeepa since about the 1st century AC to worship at its famous Rajayathana stupa. The Rajayathana stupa was constructed by two warring Naga kings, Chulodara and Mahodara, at the site where Lord Buddha during His second visit to the country on a Bak Maha Amawaka Poya Day, five years after attaining Enlightenment, intervened and mediated in settling a dispute over the possession of a gem-studded throne. The precious throne was offered to the lord Buddha, was returned to the Naga Kings and was later enshrined in this Rajayathana stupa.
Half the enjoyment of a pilgrimage to Nagadeepa is actually getting there. The road from Jaffna runs across a long causeway to the island of Kayts from where another causeway leads to Punkudutivu. The landscape is flat and sandy, dotted with numerous palm trees and completely different from everywhere else in Sri Lanka. On the far side of this second island one must take a boat to Nainativ where there are two jetties, one at the Hindu temple and another at Nagadeepa Vihara. If most of the passengers are Hindus the boat stops at the former and if most are Buddhists it stops at the latter. Public and private buses run regularly from Jaffna to Punkudutivu and the boat is timed to leave just after the bus arrives. The total distance from Jaffna is 30 km. At the time of writing it was possible to get to Nagadvipa but this may change as the political situation changes.
The Nagadeepa Purana Rajamaha Viharaya is a shining example of inter racial harmony in Sri lanka and this had been improved at various stages and ever since it has become the most sanctified place of worship by the devotees.Nainativ is one of the smallest inhabited islands in the Gulf of Mannar and is only about 35 miles from India. Merchants have long come here and the surrounding islands to buy the conch shells that are harvested in the warm shallow waters in the Gulf.
The Nagadeepa Purana Rajamaha Viharaya is one of the sixteen most sacred places of worship by the Buddhists in Sri Lanka. Pilgrims have been coming to the Nagadeepa since about the 1st century AC to worship at its famous Rajayathana stupa. The Rajayathana stupa was constructed by two warring Naga kings, Chulodara and Mahodara, at the site where Lord Buddha during His second visit to the country on a Bak Maha Amawaka Poya Day, five years after attaining Enlightenment, intervened and mediated in settling a dispute over the possession of a gem-studded throne. The precious throne was offered to the lord Buddha, was returned to the Naga Kings and was later enshrined in this Rajayathana stupa.
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