Katharagama - The Religious Place I Visited

Katharagama - The Religious Place I Visited

Katharagama is a well-known pilgrimage town in Sri Lanka, where many people from different religions from both Sri Lanka and South India visit. This place is commonly sacred to Hindus, Buddhists and some indigenous Vedda people residing in Sri Lanka. Hindus from South India visit here in high numbers. Although Kataragama used to be a small village surrounded by jungle during the ancient and medieval period, it slowly developed into a small town after becoming a popular pilgrimage site. This gives you a great feeling to try and visit this town of Sri Lanka which is far away from the limelight.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  This small town is famous for Kataragama temple. Kataragama temple in Sri Lanka has a shrine of Skanda Kumara, also commonly known as Kataragama Deviyo. Another major attraction of Kataragama is the Buddhist stupa Kiri Vehera, which was built around 6th BC. This is believed to be built by a regional king Mahasena. So, if these ancient works are to be believed, then this town is more of a historic town, rich in pilgrimage sites. Unlike many pilgrimage sites, Kataragama in Sri Lanka promotes secularism.                                              


The people visiting this holy place take bath in a river nearby, also known as the local Ganga, and its name is Manik Ganga. Surprisingly this deity is linked to pre Hinduism and Buddhism era. It is said that this deity was originally residing on the top of the Waedahiti Kanda Mountain. This mountain is well known to be the residence of the indigenous Vedda people. Even today, these indigenous Veddas come from the forest to visit this temple. This temple is well known to hold an annual festival to celebrate the glory of the god and the marriage of the Vedda princess usually in a period around July to August. This festival is known as Eshele Perehera in Sinhalese. This can be one of the best points of interest in Kataragama Sri Lanka.

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