Signage text: "This edifice with 176 stone pillars has been identified as an Uposathagara or Chapter House. An inscription at Abhayagiriya monastery states that Mahinda V (956-972 AD) renovated a chapter house called Diyasena at Jetavana monastery, which indicated that there had been a chapter house earlier. The chapter house, an essential feature of a monastery, was used by the resident monks for ecclesiastical purposes. The present edifice had several stories and the upper floors may have been used for residential purposes as well. The ground plan of this chapter house is very much similar to that of the Ratnaprasāda, the chapter house at the Abhayagiriya monastery." A ground plan is included on this etched, weatherworn metal plate.
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