(Some instructions to those who visit)

Pigeon island is a popular place that we all know. We means here the
travelers in Sri Lanka. This is the only national park situated  in a
island in Sri Lanka. This is located off the east coast of Sri Lanka. In
fact, 1.2 navel miles away from Trincomalee. In the old days , the Pigeon
island has been used as a messaging center. Today, as a matter of fact,
thousands of pigeon are living in this island. These pigeons are called
‘Nil Gal’ pigeons.

However, you can visit this special island. But, that cannot be done
easily. Don’t misunderstand, they are not asking money from you. You must
follow the given instructions. So, before everything you have to read the
following instructions carefully.

(1) Maximum 8 passengers can travel in a boat at once and infants and
elderly people should not be involved in the journey.

(2) Wear the life jackets properly.

(3) All in the boat should sit in a balanced manner. No one should stand
for any reason while sailing and everyone should hold the boat tightly.

(4) Behave as a team. Do not be afraid im an emergency because you have
life jackets with you and they will float you on the water. Help rescue
teams get to know your position.

(5) Be careful not to jump over the stones when walking in the island.

(6) Use only the roots that are made in there to walk.

(7) Do not try to touch coral reefs or pick them and walk on them.

(8) Try to see the spectacular coral reefs and its living organisms from
the surface of the water. Do not bully them. Get the help of an educated
person.

(9) If you are experienced in diving along the coral reefs, use the
instructions belonhs to them. If you do not have an experience, get the
advices.

Keep in your minds that a simple mistake is a cause of life threatening

Polonnaruwa – The Ancient City

Nowadays, people are talking about Polonnaruwa very much. That is because of the present president is from Polonnaruwa. Today Polonnaruwa is quite royal. Many things are being constructing. Development is being carried out in Polonnaruwa. But this is the story of a long history.

Ancient Architecture

Usually we are not talking so much about ancient architecture in Sri Lanka.
But I think it is topic to talk about immediately. We can argue that it is
because of Polonnaruwa. For example we can use two or three places at
Polonnaruwa.

The Hatadageya

There is a building which is built in a day in Polonnaruwa. In early times,
one day contains 60 hours. That s called ‘ Hata da’. However, this is not
built in 60 hours, but in 60 days. This incredible creation is called the
‘Hatadageya’.

Hatadageya has been used as the temple of tooth. It was built by king
Nishshankamalla. Although it is made of stone, wood and bricks, only stones and bricks of the walls are preserved. Although it is a two storey
building, only one floor is left. Three statues of Lord Budda, made of
stone is remain in the shrining room.

Hatadageya is located in the ancient Polonnaruwa district of North Central
province of Sri Lanka. The quaternary section of the oldest and the most
sacred monument in the city is the Temple of Tooth. Hatadageya is located
near the nothern edge of it. The Polonnaruwa ‘Watadageya’ is located in
front of it and the ‘Atadageya’ is located to the west.

Hatadageya was built by the king Nishshankamalla (1187 – 1196) as the
temple of tooth. As mentioned in Poojawaliya, Rajawaliya and the Galpotha
inscription, the Hatadageya was built in 60 hours. That means a day
according to the past. The name Hatadageya has been arrived from that.
There is also a view that the name Hatadageya has been arrived because it
was made for 60 monks.

The Hatadageya was of two storeys. The Tooth Relic might be placed in the
upper storey of Hatadageya. The roof was made of wood and tiles. Among the stone pillars we can find 3 inscriptions written by king Nishshankamalla.

Today we cannot see these as in the past. Instead of those, we can only see
the ruins of Hatadageya. No matter if it is built in 60 days or 60 hours,
It is an amazing creation. So, we invite you to visit Hatadageya.

Polonnaruwa Shiva Kovil – Which opened new ways in Buddhist literature

The breeze that flows by touching lotus and lillies of tanks of all sizes
in Pulathisipura hits the Gal Vihara statue. It carries the fragrance of
flowers which were carried by thousands of devotees. That breeze flows
through the sacred Jaya Sri Maha Boo tree. When the Boo leaves hit by the
wind, sound of the chanting of thousand bikkus is created. The voice
‘Sadu.. Sadu..’ (worshiping) and the chanting combined together and flow
through the whole temple. We try to find how this ground was in the past.

Generally, you know that Sri Lanka had various types of invations and those
invasions changed the country. Polonnaruwa is also changed by this. You
might not visit Polonnaruwa aware of that reason, but from today onwards
you should come here to discover its history.

A number of special places in this wonderful city is attached with its
history. Do you agree with me if I said that the main reason for the
revolution of literature is Shiva kovil? No, Nobody will. With the downfall
of Anuradhapura kingdom, kingdom shifted to Polonnaruwa. With that the Shivakovil became a part of the palace.

There is a long story which is woven around Shiva kovils, but this is not
the time to speak on that. However,  no one could oppose directly with the
construction of Shiva kovils as they were built for the with the effect of
royal commandments.  But with the construction of this kovils, many
devotees have been created around it. This leds the reduction of Buddhists.
Because of this some great literary creations have been written.

The need of these book is to build up good religious morals. But the
literature works that has created to fulfill that narrow intention has
nourished the Polonnaruwa kingdom for today, tomorrow and forever

As far as Kumana is concerned, all of us remember the birds. This is called the paradise of bird in Sri Lanka as there are more bird in Kumana than any other in national park. There are two reasons for the increase of birds in Kumana. One reason is the fact that the impact of electric waves on it is minimize. Also, there are many species of butterflies, roam freely in here. The other reason is its location. If you look at the world map, you can realize this story. From here, on the map, there is no other land until the birds meet Australian continent. So, this is the land where the migrant birds who come from the Australian continent find from the first time. This is why Kumana which is a place full of birds every day. In April and July the density of birds in Kumana increases.

Isn’t there anything else to see, rather than birds in Kumana? To find the answer for that, we tried to look around in Kumana. This national park belongs to the Ampara district. The main entrance to this is Panama. If you come to Panama from Colombo, You have to travel through Ratnapura, Monaragala, Siyabalanduwa and Pottuvil. If not, you can come to Panama after reaching Pottuvil passing by Ampara, Akkareipattu or passing by Batticaloa and Kalmune.

All right, let’s start the journey. We went these by a safari jeep. We entered from the main gate after buying tickets at about 2.00 pm. This was the best time to watch the animals. Throughout the park there are villus. The safari jeeps go through the villus. As the result of the heavy rainfall the trees had been restored and the path had become mud. So, we had to travel carefully.

Kumana has been a national park in December 1969. This was enlarged for several times and it is done in 2006, for the last time. It has a land area of 35,664 hectares. But, due to terrorism, Kuman was a restricted area for the tourist, from 1985 to 2003.

Everywhere there were birds and some were playing in the villus. In this bitrd paradise everywhere we could find herd of deers. Also we found some herd of bulls and herd of wild pigs. We found the best scenery of our journey after that. Two mother elephants, eating grass with their infants in the villu. We didn’t get tired though we watched it for a long time. We continued as we had to travel a long journey.

When traveling, watching all these, we found the ‘giant hearth’. Three natural stones are placed as a hearth. In Kumana, there is a bastion build for bird watching. We started the journey again after been there for a while. Next we stopped at the Kebilitta area. We found a shrining room of Lord Buddha and a kovil which is built for God Kataragama. The bears who have a habit to drink the oil these lamps can find in this area.

We said good bye to the Kebilitta area and reached to the Kumana tank. Kumana was a well-developed settlement for a long time ago. Not only the tank in the forest, but also the archeological evidence found in there, prove that it was a settlement in the past.