The ancient temple Attanagalla Raja Maha Viharaya is being surrounded by devotees as well as travelers. The first feature is the monument built to commemorate King Siri Sanghabo who sacrificed his head. The exact place where the king offered his head is inside the temple. A Dagoba is constructed in the hermitage. People believe that Attanagala is the place where King Siri sanghabo lived after handing over his kingdom to his brother Gotabhya (249-262). King Siri Sanghabo depicts a dominant character in ancient Sri Lankan history. But the archeologists say that the belief is wrong and the true destination is Haththikuchchi viharaya in Anuradhapura. The vihara is inimitable as it is the only ancient temple whereas Bodhisatwa Buddha had gained his dana paramita in order to become a Buddha. At the time Bodhisatwa Buddha was the spirit of Siri sanghabo.
The chronicle behind the temple is interesting. Once, King Sanghabodhi, Gotabhaya and Sanghatissa were hunting around Tissa wewa. A blind man lived near, murmured ‘the earth bears these three kings’. Gotabhya heard this very clearly and he asked that whose reign will lasted long. The man answered ‘the last one’s my lord’. But Gotabhaya didn’t say anything to Sanghabodi and Sanghatissa. In addition, Sanghatissa was appointed as the King of Sri Lanka. But he had to die after 4 years in fact of eating poisoned fruits. The next king was King Sanghabodhi. But King Gotabhaya resisted his pattern of ruling the city. Therefore king Gotabhaya abducted the right to the throne from Sanghabodhi. Therefore king Sanghabodhi went to a forest and lived in a hermitage. At the same time, king Gotabhya announced that he is giving a huge gift to the person who is capable of taking the head of Sanghabodi. Therefore all the people in the kingdom began to kill each other and provide fake heads saying that it is Siri Sangabodi’s. Eventually, King Sanghabodhi became to know the incident.
So Siri Sanghabo sacrificed his head to a peasantry and saved the community from killing each other. The place where King lived and sacrificed his life can be seen today. Hence forward you can see the pond which he used to have water.
This you can see the newly built Bhikku training center by former President Mahinda Rajapaksha. It provides residential training experience to the bhikkhus. However a travel to Attangalla maha viharaya worth very much in points of fact its historical background.