History of Tantirimale

The History of TANTIRIMALE

History of Tantirimale goes far back, towards the first chapter of the Sri Lanka written history book. In the 6th century BC, Prince Vijaya and his men set their foot on the brazen sandy shore of Sri Lanka, at a place close to Mannar. Later the place was known as Thambapanni, which means the brazen sand. It is the first city built by the king Vijaya. Vijaya encountered Kuveni, a princess of an indigenous tribe, and settled there. With the help of Kuveni he overpowered the indigenous tribes and decided to enter further more into the country and to build a kingdom. The route they believed to have taken was along a river named Malwathu oya.The leaders of Vijaya’s crew proceeded along the river and when a chief found a suitable place his team stopped there and started a village.

Chief Upathissa built Upathissagama. Anuradha’s village was named Anuradhagama after his name. These were the first settlements of this country. Vijaya’s team gradually expanded their territory along the river, Malwatuoya, and thus began the written history of Sri Lanka. Upathissagama was close to Tantirimale. Anuradhagama is now known as Anuradhapura, the main city in the North Central Province. In the 3rd century BC Tantirimale was known as Thiwakka Bamunugama after the local ruler Thiwakka and he hosted the royal procession carrying the sacred Bodhi sapling along with Buddhist nun Sanghamitta.

But the roots of the history go far deeper than Vijaya’s time. There is clear evidence to prove the fact that there had been a civilization before the arrival of Vijaya. Tantirimale is one such rare place.

In 1909 John Still has discovered a number of archeological evidences from the surface layer of the large cave located in the vicinity of the Tantirimale temple. He says “…But in prehistoric times it must have been the refuge of human beings, for in it I found fragments of cherts and a piece of crystal. These were not in any sense implements, but they may have been waste chips thrown away while implements were being made for they are of material quite foreign for their surroundings, such as could hardly evident of their age. I am quite incompetent to form even an estimate but their newness. I can put a limit -the limit is 2000 years ago…” Crystal and cherts has been used by the prehistoric man universally. The next unavoidable evidence is the cave paintings of Tantirimale. Mr. John Still says that these paintings can be included to the works of prehistoric Austro Negroid man. The Megalithic burial ground that has been found near Tantirimale also supports this theory.