Signage with history of the site and statues at Maligawila and adjacent site of Dambegoda. Text of sign board: "Maligawila and Dambegoda belong to a single monastic complex which had been identified as the Patima Vihāra situated in Kanagama where Prince Aggabodhi (7th century AD) has made a colossal Buddha statue. It has also been identified as the Ariyākara Vihāra mentioned in the Mahāvamsa. King Dappula I (7th century AD) constructed an image-house to the said statue and a Maitreya Bodhisattva statue at Dambegoda. He also decorated the Buddha statue and made an offering." More recent research clarifies that it the latter statue is of Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara.
7th century CE. Fallen statue, found in the 1950s, restored and raised in 1991
Place
Maligawila (Maligawela), monastery complex, possibly at the location called Kanagama. Maligawila (Maligawela). Monerāgala District, Uva province. 15 km from Butthala. Sri Lanka
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