Located on one of the best beach stretches in Southern Sri Lanka, the Sands, one of prominent Sri Lanka beach resorts, offers a great base for a dream vacation. In addition to the sun, surf and sand the location of one of popular beach hotels Sri Lanka offers easy access to a range of attractions from historic to adventurous, natural to manmade that can barely fit into one vacation.
At the southern end of the 38 meter long bride over the Kalu Ganga River in the city of Kalutuara, linking the country’s western and southern regions is Kalutara Temple. The 3 stories high dagoba built in the 1960s is one of the temple’s main features. It is known as the world’s only hollow stupa. The temple site on the riverbank is said to be an ancient sacred site and a bodhi tree is said to have been on the premises from the 17th century. The current temple complex incorporates a much venerated bodhi tree that is said to be one of the 32 saplings of the Sri Maha Bodhi that was distributed by the arahat Mahinda. The foundation for the dagoba was laid in 1964 and construction was completed the following year. A wata da ge or a ambulatory was constructed around it in 1976. Inside the hollow dagoba is a series of paintings depicting the life of the Buddha.
Kalutara Temple occupies an important position among the Buddhists in the area as well as those that travel along the Colombo – Galle main road by which it is situated. While the temple premises are a popular place to stop by for pilgrims, it is full of devotees observing sil on Buddhist holy days. The pink and white lotus blossoms sold on the bridge and by the temple premises on Poya days are snapped up by devotees. Over the years the Kalutara Temple gained a reputation as offering protection to drivers along the Colombo – Galle Road. Many stop by to put a few coins into its collection box conveniently positioned by the road, for guarantee of a safe journey. This would have been psychological satisfying to many a driver in days past when they had to set off on a tedious journey on a traffic clogged narrow road to the southern extremities of the country.
One of the best views of the white painted bubble shaped dagoba of the Kalutara temple topped by its golden pinnacle is across the river. On festival nights it is lit up by streams of electric bulbs cascading down its sides presenting a very pretty picture.
Pushpitha Wijesinghe is an experienced independent freelance writer. He specializes in providing a wide variety of content and articles related to the travel hospitality industry.
